COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 

FROM  A 

UNITED  STATES  POINT  OF  VIEW. 


SPEECH  OF  ERASTUS  W  IMAN 

BEFORE  THE  COMMERCIAL  BODIES  OF  DETROIT  AND  BUFFALO, 
AUGUST  27  AND  30,  1887. 


"  The  amount  of  duty  collected  on  importations  from  the  Dominion  of  Canada  is  slightly 
under  Jive  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars,  almost  solely  on  natural  products, — the  necessaries  of 
life  and  raw  material" — Trade  and  Navigation  Returns. 


"/  recommend  that,  keeping  in  view  all  these  considerations,  the  increasing  and  unnecessary 
surplus  of  national  income  annually  accumulated  be  released  to  the  people  by  an  amendment  to 
our  revenue  -  laws,  which  shall  cheapen  the  price  of  necessaries  of  life  and  give  freer  entrance 
to  such  imported  materials  as  by  A  merican  labor  may  be  manufactured  into  marketable  com- 
modities."— Message  of  President  Cleveland. 


NEW  YORK: 
ERASTUS  WIMAN,  314  BROADWAY 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 

FROM  A 

UXITED  STATES  POINT  OF  VIEW. 


SPEECH  OF  ERASTUS  W  IMAN 


BEFORE  THE  COMMERCIAL  BODIES  OF  DETROIT  AND  BUFFALO, 
AUGUST  27  AND  30,  1887. 


"  The  amount  of  duty  collected  on  importations  from  tJie  Dominion  of  Canada  is  slightly 
under  five  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars,  almost  solely  on  natural  products, — the  necessaries  of 
life  and  raiv  material." — Trade  and  Navigation  Returns. 

"/  recommend  that,  keeping  in  view  all  these  a 
surplus  of  national  income  annually  accumulated 
our  revenue  laws,  which  shall  clieapen  the  price 
to  such  imported  materials  as  by  A  merican  labor 
modifies." — Message  of  President  Cleveland. 

>nside rations,  the  increasing  and  unnecessary 
be  released  to  the  people  by  an  amendment  to 
of  necessaries  of  life  and  give  freer  entrance 
may  be  manufactured  into  marketable  com- 

 >-♦-< 

NEW  Y 

ORK: 

ERASTUS  WIMAN, 

314  BROADWAY. 

<9VL 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 

—  FROM    A  — 

UNITED  STATES  POINT  OF  VIEW. 

SPEECH  OF  ERASTUS  WIMAN 

BEFORE  THE  COMMERCIAL  BODIES  OF  DETROIT  AND  BUFFALO, 
AUGUST  27  AND  30,  1887. 

Mr.  Wdiax  said  that  Commercial  Union  between  the  United  States  and 
Canada  meant  that  the  two  countries  should  be  commercially  united.  It 
meant  that,  so  far  as  trade  was  concerned,  the  whole  continent  of  North 
America  should  be  one  country,  with  no  dividing  line  to  check  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  commerce.  That,  like  the  mingling  of  the  waters  in  the  great  rivers 
and  lakes  between  the  two  countries,  the  commercial  interests  of  the  English 
speaking  nations  of  the  North  American  continent  should  be  so  blended  that 
the  mutual  advantage  would  be  equal  to  that  which  now  makes  it  profitable 
for  one  State  to  deal  with  another  State ;  and,  giving  all  that  ea-ch  can  give 
in  the  shape  of  advantage,  no  more  can  be  demanded  of  each  other.  At 
present  a  customs  line,  4,000  miles  in  length,  shuts  out  the  products  and 
manufactures  of  each  country  from  the  other,  except  on  the  payment  of  a 
high  rate  of  duty.  This  customs  line  was  like  a  barbed  wire  fence,  4,000 
miles  long,  over  which  one  brother  could  not  legally  trade  with  another 
brother,  for  even  a  bushel  of  potatoes,  without  the  intervention  of  the 
government.  Inasmuch  as  the  amount  of  goods  and  merchandise  inter- 
changed between  the  two  countries  annually  was  almost  equal,  and  as  the 
duties  paid  by  one  people  were  only  slightly  less  or  more  than  that  paid  by 
the  other,  this  customs  charge  operated  very  much  as  a  license.  As  there 
would  be  no  trade  whatever,  unless  the  people  on  both  sides  of  the  border 
found  it  to  their  advantage,  a  license  to  permit  them  to  trade  seems  like  an 
exaction,  which,  in  ancient  days,  might  have  been  demanded  by  the  govern- 
ment for  trading  privileges,  but  which  in  free  America  and  among  freemen 
seems  at  this  late  date  to  be  sadly  out  of  place.  It  was  sadly  out  of  place 
when  it  was  considered  that  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  two  countries 
were  almost  precisely  alike ;  that  in  climate,  in  products,  in  pursuits,  and 
in  prospects  for  the  future,  there  was  as  little  difference  between  the  United 
States  and  Canada  as  there  was  between  New  York  and  Michigan.  If 
Canada  possessed  any  marked  advantage  over  the  United  States,  it  might 


i 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


be  necessary  to  protect  the  latter  by  putting  up  a  wall  of  exactions  to  make 
the  conditions  equal,  and  thus  give  the  United  States  a  fair  chance.  But 
where  there  is  no  possible  or  visible  advantage  which  one  country  possesses 
over  the  other,  and  where  both  must  and  will  trade  for  mutual  advantage, 
despite  all  barriers,  the  existence  of  these  barriers  is  unjustifiable,  and 
when  absolutely  unnecessary  for  raising  revenue,  should  be  entirely  swept 
away.  So  far  as  trade  and  commerce  are  concerned,  there  would  have  been 
the  same  justification  to  have  kept  Michigan  out  of  the  Union  as  there  is 
now  for  keeping  out  the  trade  and  commerce  of  Canada.  The  prosperity 
of  the  United  States  has  had  enormous  contributions  from  the  rich  and 
varied  products  of  Michigan,  and  from  the  vast  trade  which  their  develop- 
ment has  created.  Sinking  out  of  sight  the  political  difference  in  the  two 
countries,  the  products  and  trade  of  Canada  will,  in  even  greater  measure, 
contribute  to  the  prosperity,  the  wealth  and  progress  of  the  United  States, 
if  with  the  same  rapidity  they  are  developed,  and  there  is  no  impediment  to 
their  free  flow  in  the  direction  which  they  would  naturally  seek.  That  the 
United  States  would  become  the  Mecca  to  which  turns  the  trade  of  the  entire 
continent  no  one  for  a  moment  doubts  ;  and  that  she  would  be  enormously 
benefitted  by  opening  up  to  her  energy  and  enterprise  the  vast  treasures  of 
the  best  part  of  the  continent  is  as  plain  as  that  there  is  a  sun  in  the 
heavens. 

CANADA  COMMERCIALLY  INDEPENDENT. 

But  it  may  well  be  asked  how  can  a  union  commercially  with  Canada  be 
accomplished,  and  yet  Canada  remain  as  she  is,  a  part  and  parcel  of  the 
British  Empire.  The  answer  to  that  question  is,  that  as  far  as  commercial 
regulations  are  concerned,  Canada  is  to  day  no  more  a  part  of  the  British 
Empire  than  is  New  York  or  Massachusetts.  Long  ago,  commercially 
speaking,  Canada  became  independent,  and  by  exacting  the  same  duties  on 
every  dollars  worth  of  English  goods  as  she  has  exacted  on  the  goods  of  the 
United  States,  Germany,  or  other  countries,  she  separated  herself  commer- 
cially, so  to  speak,  from  Great  Britain  as  completely  as  did  the  American 
colonies  who  declared  their  independence  in  1776.  Having  thus  obtained 
the  power  to  tax  all  importations,  whether  British  or  otherwise,  of  course 
she  possessed  the  power  to  regulate  her  own  expenditures.  On  the  principle 
that  he  who  pays  the  taxes  has  the  best  right  to  dispose  of  them,  Canada  has 
for  many  years  made  just  such  disposition  as  she  chose  of  all  her  revenues, 
never  for  a  moment  considering  the  English  government  or  the  English 
people  in  the  matter.  She  has  had  within  her  own  power  the  regulation  of 
her  own  modes  or  forms  of  taxation.  She  can  to-day  if  she  chooses  put  up  a 
tariff,  put  it  down,  increase  her  internal  revenue  tax,  inaugurate  a  system 
of  direct  taxation,  or,  in  any  way  she  prefers,  procure  from  her  people  the 
revenues  necessary  for  the  payment  of  the  expenses  of  their  government, 
and  provision  for  the  fixed  charges  arising  out  of  her  debt.  By  a  uniform 
tariff  against  all  nations,  she  has  shown  her  real  and  complete  commercial 
independence,  and  under  this  condition  has  made  a  progress  and  attained  a 
position  of  which  every  Canadian  has  good  reason  to  be  proud. 


FROM  A  UNITED  STATES  POIXT  OF  VIEW. 


The  question  now  is,  Laving  completely  and  entirely  separated  herself  so 
far  as  commercial  ties  are  concerned  from  the  mother  land,  is  she  now  com- 
petent to  seek  a  nnion  in  the  same  commercial  way  with  her  neighboring 
nation?  Is  there  anything  violent  in  the  proposition  in  a  commercial  sense, 
that  having  attained  a  freedom  of  action  which  enables  her  to  regulate  her 
own  affairs  for  her  own  exclusive  benerit,  she  should  now  cast  about  for  new 
commercial  alliances,  whereby  these  benefits  could  be  vastly  augmented ; 
and  by  the  same  action  benefitting  the  nation  with  whom  she  proposes  to 
form  a  business  partnership  ?  With  these  conditions  existing  there  has 
dawned  upon  the  minds  of  many  Canadians  the  hope  that  a  commercial 
alliance  on  equal  terms  could  be  made  with  the  United  States  whereby  a 
new  era  might  open  up  for  the  future  of  that  great  country.  When,  there- 
fore, the  matter  assumed  something  of  a  definite  shape,  which  it  did  in  the 
Bill  which  was  introduced  into  the  last  Congress  by  the  Hon.  Benjamin 
Butterworth,  providing  for  a  practical  Commercial  Union  between  the 
two  countries,  the  whole  question  came  before  the  Canadian  public  in  its 
most  attractive  form.  The  hope  has  dawned  upon  them  that  by  this  Bill,  or 
other  appropriate  and  uniform  legislation  by  Congress  on  one  side,  and  by 
the  Canadian  Parliament  on  the  other,  that  the  barriers  between  the  two 
great  countries  may  be  removed,  and  as  perfect  an  inter-communication 
created  between  the  United  States  and  Canada  as  now  exists  between  all 
the  States  of  the  Union  on  the  one  hand  and  all  the  Provinces  of  the 
Dominion  on  the  other.  The  possibilities  arising  out  of  such  a  consumma- 
tion are  of  the  most  comprehensive  character,  and  whether  contemplated 
from  a  United  States  point  of  view,  or  from  a  Canadian  standpoint,  the 
question  possesses  an  interest  of  a  greater  importance  than  almost  any  other 
subject  now  before  the  public  on  either  side  of  the  border. 

A   UNIFORM   NORTH   AMERICAN  TARIFF. 

A  Commercial  Union  between  the  United  States  and  Canada  under  the 
terms  of  the  Bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Butterworth,  it  is  believed,  can  be 
safely  inaugurated  by  the  adoption  by  Canada  of  a  tariif  uniform  with  that 
of  the  United  States ;  in  other  words,  that  as  against  all  the  rest  of  the 
world,  the  same  rates  of  duty  should  be  collected  by  Canada  as  are  now 
levied  by  the  United  States,  while  between  the  two  countries  of  North 
America  the  customs  wall  should  be  completely  obliterated.  This  propo- 
sition would  imply  that  goods  imported  from  England,  or  the  outside  world, 
into  Halifax,  St.  John,  Montreal,  or  Toronto,  or  any  where  else  in  the  Domin- 
ion, should  pay  precisely  the  same  rates  of  duty  as  if  imported  at  Boston, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  or  elsewhere  in  the  United  States.  Fur- 
ther, that  not  only  would  the  duties  on  foreign  goods  imported  into  any 
part  of  North  America  be  precisely  the  same,  but  that  no  duties  whatever 
would  be  levied  on  American  goods  imported  into  Canada,  nor  none  what- 
ever on  Canadian  goods  imported  into  the  United  States.  The  result  of  this 
proposition  would  be  that  as  around  the  whole  continent  of  North  America 
a  customs  line  would  exist  of  precisely  uniform  height,  while  within  the 
continent  itself,  trade  would  ebb  and  now  as  freely  as  mingle  the  drops  of 


6 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CAXADA 


water  in  the  lakes  and  rivers  covering  this  vast  area.  Is  not  the  conception 
one  worthy  of  your  highest  thoughts  ?  Does  not  the  prospect  of  such  a  con- 
summation thrill  with  enthusiasm  the  lover  of  his  country,  no  matter  on 
which  side  of  the  line  he  is  born.  For  in  the  prospect  that  is  thus  opened, 
not  only  does  Canada  find  her  hope  of  growth,  of  expansion  and  future 
greatness,  vastly  augmented,  but  the  true  patriot  in  the  United  States  will 
see  that  in  the  vast  continent  of  North  America,  the  greater  portion  of  which 
is  now  inaccessible,  there  are  the  potentialities  to  him  and  his  children  of 
individual  wealth  beyond  the  confines  of  his  own  land,  and  the  possibilities 
of  contributions  to  the  greatness  of  hisowu  country  greater  than  are  visible 
from  any  other  point  of  the  compass.  When  one  recalls  the  five  thousand 
miles  of  coast  line  fishing  privileges  possessed  by  Canada ;  the  limitless 
forests  of  timber  greatly  needed  by  the  United  States  ;  the  exhaustless  hills 
of  iron  ore,  the  copper,  nickel  and  other  minerals  ;  the  mountains  of  phos- 
phates, the  miles  and  miles  of  coal  in  close  proximity  to  Eastern  manufac- 
turing centres  and  Western  needs  :  the  infinite  variety  of  riches  which  God 
in  His  providence  has  placed  in  these  regions  for  the  good  of  all  mankind  -T 
and  when  one  recalls  that  for  the  most  part  these  are  lying  silent,  dormant 
and  dead,  it  needs  only  to  turn  and  look  into  the  earnest  faces  of  the  great 
nation  on  the  borders  of  Canada  to  realize  that  the  Good  Providence  has  also 
provided  a  people  whose  high  mission  it  is  to  take  these  vast  riches  and 
most  greatefully  enjoy  His  bounty.  The  truest  and  highest  patriotism  on 
both  sides  of  the  border  is  to  pursue  that  policy  which  will  to  the  greatest 
extent  benefit  each  country  :  and  in  all  the  range  of  human  circumstances 
it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  an  event  of  greater  significance,  to  be  followed 
by  consequences  more  beneficent,  than  the  opening  up  of  the  vast  stores  of 
wealth  in  the  Northern  Continent,  and  the  freest  commercial  intercourse 
between  all  portions  of  this,  heaven's  last  best  gift  to  mankind.  One  cannot 
resist  constantly  quoting  those  seer-like  words  of  Emerson,  when  he  said : 
— "We  live  in  a  new  and  exceptional  age.  America  is  a  new  name  for  op- 
portunity. Its  whole  history  appears  like  a  last  efibrt  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence in  behalf  of  the  human  race."  It  remains  with  the  people  to  whom 
these  words  were  uttered,  and  whose  good  fortune  it  is  to  live  in  this  age 
and  in  this  America,  to  say  whether  they  will  content  themselves  with  one 
half  of  what  God  has  provided  for  their  benefit :  whether  antiquated  and 
utterly  unnecessary  forms  of  taxation  shall  be  permitted  longer  to  erect  such 
barriers,  such  a  dividing  line  between  the  inhabitants  of  this  great  continent 
that  its  riches  may  be  only  partially  conferred,  and  that  the  efibrt  of  Divine 
intention  shall  remain  to  be  defeated  by  the  selfishness,  or  the  stupidity  of 
man. 

TIME  AND   CIRCUMSTANCE  FAVORABLE. 

In  the  history  of  all  nations  a  time  comes  and  circumstances  occur  which, 
as  in  the  career  of  men  themselves,  are  full  of  the  possibilities  of  the  future. 
The  time  and  the  circumstance  were  never  so  favorable  as  now  for  the  ex- 
tension to  large  areas  of  the  trade  of  the  United  States  on  the  one  hand,  and 
enormous  natural  development  by  Canada  on  the  other.    Never  before 


FROM  A  UXITED  STATES  POIXT  OF  VIEW. 


in  the  history  of  the  two  English-speaking  nations,  occupying  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  earth's  surface,  was  there  a  period  quite  so  advantageous  as 
now  for  the  removal  of  all  hindrances  to  their  freest  intercourse :  and  it  is 
almost  inconceivable  that  ever  hereafter  will  the  circumstances  of  the  two 
countries  be  more  favorable  than  at  present  for  a  union  based  upon  an 
equitable  commercial  foundation.  Indeed,  there  is  urgent  need  for  some 
such  broad  policy  of  statesmanship  as  will  forever  settle  the  friction  that 
periodically  arises  between  the  two  countries  in  the  fishery  question  and 
other  local  issues ;  and  by  creating  such  a  union  of  interests  between  the 
two  countries  as  will  practically  and  commercially  make  one  a  part  of  the 
other,  forever  remove  all  possibilities  of  conflict,  and  all  possible  grounds  of 
difference.  Side  by  side,  for  four  thousand  miles,  these  two  nations  lay  like 
great  giants,  with  lessened  intercourse  one  with  each  other,  jealous  of  each 
other's  rights,  and  sensitive  to  encroachment  on  each  others  privileges. 
Down  in  the  broad  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  in  the  extreme  East,  within  the 
past  month,  the  navies  of  the  two  nations  were  arrayed  in  friendly  but  con- 
strained relations.  In  the  far  West,  in  the  Behring  Straits,  the  gun-boats 
of  the  same  two  powers  watch  each  other  with  sedulous  care.  In  the  long 
stretches  between  these  two  distant  points  there  are  elements  at  work  in 
various  forms  that  might  readily  disturb  the  peace  of  the  two  nations.  Xo 
calamity  could  occur  of  consequences  so  vastly  injurious  to  the  good  of 
mankind  as  a  conflict  between  England  and  the  United  States.  There  is 
none  probable — it  may  be  hoped  there  is  none  possible — but  no  one  will 
deny  that  if  a  complete  commercial  union  existed  on  this  continent,  danger 
of  this  kind  would  be  greatly  lessened,  if  not  entirely  removed.  The  navi- 
gation laws  and  the  fishery  privileges  would  be  uniform  and  universal. 
The  markets  of  both  countries  being  open  to  each  other,  the  products  of 
both  lands  being  available  for  both  nations,  such  a  close  alliance  in  pursuits 
and  common  advantage  would  exist  as  to  make  it  utterly  out  of  the  ques- 
tion any  real  difference  could  ever  hereafter  arise. 

DISCRIMINATION   AGAINST  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

It  may  still  be  asked,  how  could  a  uniform  tariff  be  enforced  by 
Canada  and  the  United  States  while  Canada  belongs  to  Great  Britain,  in 
that  it  would  be  impossible  to  exact  a  heavy  tax  upon  English  goods  enter- 
ing into  one  of  her  own  colonies  while  admitting  free  of  taxes  the  goods  01 
the  United  States,  which  is  practically  a  foreign  country.  It  must  be 
admitted  that,  stated  in  its  baldest  form,  this  proposition  to  discriminate 
against  Great  Britain  and  in  favor  of  the  United  States,  by  a  British  colony, 
seems  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  notions  that  prevail  in  the  United 
States  as  to  the  relations  existing  between  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies. 
There  is  always  a  tendency  to  regard  these  relations  as  those  which  were  so 
violently  disrupted  by  the  American  Ke volution  ;  but  since  that  date,  owing 
to  the  influences  then  set  in  motion,  a  great  change  has  taken  place,  and  it 
may  be  said  as  a  result  of  those  influences  that  while  Canada  to-day 
nominally  belongs  to  England,  she  in  reality  belongs  much  more  to  herself. 
It  may  be  repeated,  and  with  emphasis,  that  Canada  possesses  a  commercial 


8 


COMMERCIAL  UXIOX  WITH  CANADA 


independence,  in  a  form  so  distinctive,  that  while  the  world  at  large  under- 
stands she  is  a  part  and  parcel  of  the  British  Empire,  she  is  in  all  that 
relates  to  trade  her  own  mistress,  and  commercially  belongs  to  herself. 
The  whole  tendency  for  the  last  fifty  years,  since  the  memorable  events  in 
1837,  has  been  in  this  direction,  and  especially  from  the  date  of  the  Confede- 
ration of  the  Provinces,  which  was  hailed  by  the  British  authorities  as  the 
establishment  of  a  new  nationality.  Through  all  the  Parliaments  in  which 
the  machinery  of  taxation  has  been  assiduously  employed,  down  to  this  very 
year,  the  constant  result  has  been  to  evince  a  commercial  independence  :  to 
tax  heavily  goods  imported  from  Britain  as  well  as  from  all  other  countries, 
and  to  keep  as  separate  as  possible  the  distinctive  policy  that  animated  the 
two  governments.  Thus,  while  it  is  the  glory  of  the  British  Government 
that  the  greatest  freedom  of  trade  should  prevail,  not  only  throughout  her 
own  empire,  and  throughout  her  own  colonies,  but  throughout  the  whole 
world,  the  Canadian  Government  has  been  animated  by  a  policy  precisely 
the  opposite,  and  has  built  up  a  wall  of  tariff  so  high  that  English  goods 
have  in  many  instances  been  entirely  excluded.  So  far,  therefore,  as  senti- 
ment has  gone,  as  between  the  mother  and  the  daughter  in  matters  of  trade, 
not  the  slightest  heed  has  of  late  years  been  paid  to  it  by  the  Government 
of  the  people  of  Canada.  This  is  all  the  more  significant  because  this  policy 
has  been  inaugurated  and  most  energetically  promoted  by  the  political  party 
that  claimed  exclusive  possession  of  almost  all  the  loyalty  in  the  country, 
— the  Conservative  or  Tory  party,  who  have  been  loudest  in  their 
declarations  of  attachment  to  British  connection,  and  their  love  for  British 
institutions.  Under  such  circumstances  the  proposition  does  not  seem  so 
revolutionary  as  at  first  sight  appears,  to  go  a  step  further  and  add,  say, 
ten  per  cent,  to  the  existing  tariff,  and  thus  equalize  it  to  that  of  the 
American  standard.  Indeed,  only  at  the  last  session  of  Parliament,  within 
the  present  year,  the  tariff  on  iron  goods  was  so  far  advanced  that  the  rates 
now  levied  are  practically  as  high  as  those  prevailing  in  the  United  States, 
discriminating,  practically,  most  adversely  to  English  manufactures.  It 
needs  only  a  few  further  touches  from  the  Finance  Minister,  which  are 
certain  to  come  in  time,  to  make  the  whole  list  of  custom  duties  uniform 
with  those  of  the  United  States. 

CANADA  CAN   TALK  FOR  HERSELF. 

It  having  been  thus  shown  that  Canada  has  perfect  commercial  inde- 
pendence ;  that  she  has  deliberately  adopted  a  trade  policy  diametrically 
opposed  to  that  of  Great  Britain,  and  without  regard  to  the  interests  of 
British  manufacturers,  it  is  not  going  much  further  for  her  to  say  to  the 
United  States:  " I  have  great  stores  of  products  that  you  greatly  need. 
You  are  my  next  door  neighbor,  and  your  markets  are  absolutely  necessary 
for  the  development  of  these  products.  I  need  the  capital  and  enterprise  of 
your  people  to  do  as  much  for  me  as  you  have  done  for  Michigan  and  other 
commonwealths.  I  will  agree  to  tax  all  the  outside  world  as  high  as  you 
do,  and  admit  all  that  you  have  to  offer  me  free,  if  you  will  admit  all  that  I 
have  to  offer  you  on  the  same  terms."'    It  is  true  that  this  would  be  a 


FE01T  A  UyiTED  STJTES  POIXT  OF  VIEW. 


9 


discrimination  against  English  goods,  and  in  favor  of  American  goods.  It 
is  true  that  at  first  blush  it  seems  unfair  that  after  all  England  has  done 
for  Canada,  that  Canada  should  turn  around  and  thus  tax  English  goods. 
But  that  is  just  what  she  has  been  doing  for  years,  and  yet  the  tie  between 
Great  Britain  and  Canada  is  just  as  strong  and  just  as  potent  in  its  political 
connection  as  it  ever  was.  But  it  is  goiug  too  far,  some  in  Canada  will  say, 
to  admit  American  goods  free,  while  continuing  to  tax  British  goods.  It 
will  be  argued  that  Canada  has  no  right,  either  legally  or  morally,  to 
charge  England  more  for  the  privilege  of  admitting  her  goods,  and  charge 
less  or  nothing  whatever  for  admitting  goods  from  the  United  States.  The 
answer  to  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that  this  policy  has  already  been  in 
operation  for  years,  and  that  so  far  as  right  "is  concerned,  both  legal  and 
moral,  it  has  been  fully  and  freely  used.  This  is  shown  in  the  statistics  for 
1886.  In  that  year  English  goods  were  brought  into  Canada  to  the  extent 
of  $40,601,000.  These  paid  a  duty  of  $7,817,000,  or  equal  to  nineteen  and  a 
■quarter  cents  on  the  dollar.  During  the  same  period  goods  from  the  United 
States  were  imported,  amounting  to  $44,868,000,  paying  duties  thereon  of 
only  $6,790,000,  or  slightly  above  fifteen  cents  on  the  dollar.  Xot  only  were 
the  goods  imported  from  the  United  States  over  those  from  Great  Britain, 
four  millions  in  excess,  but  the  rate  of  duty  exacted  absolutely  averaged 
four  per  cent.  less.  The  Dominion,  in  1866,  imported  of  free  goods  from 
England,  $10,215,000,  while  from  the  United  States  the  free  goods  brought 
in  were  $15,198,000.  These  figures  go  to  show  that  the  existing  tariff,  while 
it  appears  as  uniform  against  all  countries,  nevertheless  is  a  practical 
discrimination  in  favor  of  the  United  States. 

DIPLOMACY  UNNECESSARY. 

The  speaker  said  he  must  apologize  to  his  American  friends  for  having 
devoted  so  much  time  to  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Canada,  and  too  little  to 
the  advantages  which  commercial  union  would  bring  to  the  United  States, 
the  latter  of  which  he  would  deal  with  later  on.  But  it  was  important  that 
the  misconception  which  existed  in  the  United  States  in  regard  to  the  con- 
dition of  Canada  should  be  removed,  and  that  it  should  be  clearly  under- 
stood that  within  herself  Canada  possessed  all  the  rights  and  all  the  powers 
necessary  to  enter  into  a  commercial  partnership  with  the  United  States. 
That  no  treaty,  no  diplomacy,  no  weary  Avaiting  for  the  Colonial  or  Foreign 
Office  to  move,  was  necessary  to  consummate  such  an  arrangement  with  the 
United  States,  was  a  matter  of  surprise.  But  such  was  the  real  condition  of 
affairs  that  Parliament,  by  appropriate  legislation  with  Congress,  could 
effect  all  that  was  necessary  to  remove  all  barriers  between  the  two  great 
English-speaking  nations  of  the  Xorth  American  Continent.  Ordinarily, 
the  acts  of  the  Canadian  Parliament  were  not  submitted  to  the  home  gov- 
ernment for  approval,  but  should  a  tariff  measure  such  as  has  been  described 
pass,  the  Governor-General,  would,  in  view  of  the  importance  of  the  measure, 
no  doubt  feel  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  send  it  to  the  Imperial  authorities 
for  consideration.  There  have  been  one  or  two  rare  occasions  since  Con- 
federation when,  from  a  difference  of  views,  measures  passed  by  the  Cana- 


10 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


dian  Parliament  have  been  sent  back,  or,  in  other  words,  disallowed.  Bu1 
there  need  be  no  fear  that  disallowance  by  the  English  Government  would 
be  the  fate  in  store  for  a  measure  which  would  so  manifestly  benefit  Canada 
as  that  creating  a  commercial  alliance  between  five  millions  of  her  owe 
people  on  one  side,  and  sixty  millions  of  English  speaking  people  of  the 
United  States  on  the  other.  It  might  be  that  there  would  be  reluctance  in 
yielding  to  such  a  demand  in  view  of  the  discrimination  against  English 
goods,  and  the  few  hundred  English  manufacturers  interested  would  nc 
doubt  earnestly  protest,  but  as  it  could  be  shown  that  the  measure  was  oJ 
incalculable  benefit  to  Canada  and  all  her  people,  there  would  be  no  lack 
of  heartiness  in  the  eventual  consent  of  the  British  authorities.  If  it  could 
be  understood  that  even  the  English  manufacturers  would  in  the  end  be 
benefitted  by  the  increased  power  to  buy  and  pay  for  goods  they  have  to  sell: 
if  it  could  be  shown  that  as  a  result  of  the  unification  of  the  two  tariffs  oj 
North  America,  that  of  Canada  had  been  advanced  five  per  cent.,  affecting 
only  five  millions  of  people,  while  a  corresponding  reduction  had  taken 
place  on  the  tariff  of  the  United  States,  affecting  sixty  millions  of  people, 
the  advantage  would  be  so  manifest  as  to  disarm  hostility  to  the  movement. 
If,  further,  it  could  be  realized  that  the  enormous  amount  of  English 
capital  which  is  now  invested  in  Canada,  would  have  a  greatly  improved 
chance  of  some  day  being  repaid,  and  meantime  of  yielding  an  adequate 
return,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  making  clear  the  duty  of  the  English 
authorities. 

But  if,  above  all,  it  could  be  equally  and  clearly  shown  that  a  vast 
majority  of  Canadians  themselves  were  strongly  and  determinedly  in  favoi 
of  a  closer  alliance  with  their  neighbors  in  the  United  States  (as  it  could 
most  assuredly  be  shown),  while  at  the  same  time  sincerely  desirous  of  re- 
taining British  connection,  the  advisers  of  Her  Majesty  would  be  too 
sagacious,  too  astute,  to  refuse  consent  to  a  measure  fraught  with  benefits 
so  immeasurable  to  the  people  most  closely  concerned.  To  refuse  such  a 
boon  would  be  like  refusing  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,  and 
would  be  affording  a  justification  for  another  schism  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  of  far  greater  import  than  that  which  justified  the  Eevolution  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  in  1776.  No  one  need  fear  that,  so  far  as  Canada  is  con- 
cerned, her  people  are  not  eager  for  the  closest  alliance  with  the  United 
States  consistent  with  British  connection.  If  a  vote  were  polled  even 
to-day — and  the  question  as  a  practical  scheme  is  only  nine  months  old — it  is 
believed  that  a  majority  of  two  to  one  could  be  secured  in  behalf  of  this 
movement.  Under  such  circumstances  it  in  idle  to  believe  that  the  Im- 
perial authorities  would,  so  long  as  British  connection  was  maintained,  risk 
anything  by  withholding  consent  from  measures  that  would  most  certainly 
benefit  the  people  of  Canada. 

OPPORTUNITIES   FOR  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Having  thus  described  conditions  pievailing  in  Canada,  the  speaker  now 
directed  attention  to  the  advantages  which  the  United  States  would  derive 
from  the  creation  of  a  commercial  union  with  Canada.    Perhaps  never  before 


FROM  A  UNITED  STATES  POINT  OF  VIEW.  11 

in  the  history  of  the  world  was  presented  an  opportunity  so  great  as  that 
which  now  presented  itself  to  the  United  States,  for  the  extension  of  its 
trade  and  commerce.  Without  the  drawing  of  a  sword,  without  the  shedding 
of  a  single  drop  of  blood,  or  the  cost  of  a  single  dollar,  the  area  can  be  doubled 
over  which  the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  United  States  can  be  freely  ex- 
tended. Vast  as  are  the  stretches  over  which  the  business  of  this  country 
now  extends,  a  commercial  union  with  Canada  more  than  doubles  the  area 
in  which  a  profitable  development  and  a  profitable  trade  can  be  prosecuted. 
In  respect  to  extension  of  the  boundaries  of  commerce,  the  fiftieth  Congress 
possesses  a  greater  opportunity  than  any  other  legislative  body  in  the  history 
of  the  Avorld  possessed.  It  cost  the  United  States  six  thousand  millions  of 
dollars,  and  five  hundred  thousand  lives,  to  keep  within  her  borders  the 
seceding  Southern  States.  No  one  now  regrets  that  vast  expenditure,  or 
those  sacrifices,  because,  aside  from  all  sentiment,  all  necessity  of  self-preser- 
vation, the  investment  is  deemed  a  good  one  because  of  the  great  advantages 
which  result  from  the  possession  of  the  South  as  a  field  for  business,  as  a 
field  for  commerce,  and  as  a  source  of  development.  But  those  who  have 
studied  closely  the  value  of  the  two  regions  contributory  to  the  great- 
ness and  future  of  the  United  States  will  testify  that  free  trade  over  the 
Northern  continent  is  of  even  greater  value  than  over  the  region  covered 
by  the  proposed  Southern  Confederacy. 

WHAT   MIGHT   HAVE  BEEN. 

Suppose,  for  an  instant,  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  instead 
of  stopping  short  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  of  the  great  lakes, 
had  included  the  whole  continent  of  North  America,  what  would  be 
the  sentiment  evoked  if,  at  this  late  date,  it  was  seriously  discussed  that  the 
vast  region  to  the  north  of  this  line  should  secede  from  the  Union  and 
become  as  completely  isolated  as  it  now  is?  We  can  judge  of  the  feeling 
which  such  a  proposition  would  produce  by  the  intensity  of  the  struggle 
which  maintained  the  Southern  States  within  the  Union.  Indeed,  the 
parallel  falls  short,  for  had  the  whole  of  North  America  been  included 
within  the  United  States  one  hundred  years  ago,  such  a  development  would 
have  taken  place  north  of  the  present  line  that  to  propose  a  separation,  and 
produce  an  isolation  such  as  at  present  exists,  would  be  regarded  as  a  loss  in 
wealth  so  stupendous,  and  in  vital  forces  so  disastrous,  that  the  death-knell 
of  the  Union  would  be  sounded,  and  the  experiment  of  free  government  by 
commonwealths  would  disappear  from  the  earth.  For,  not  only  is  the 
country  to  the  north  of  the  United  States  a  great  deal  larger  than  the 
United  States  themselves,  but  it  possesses  an  infinitude  of  riches  almost 
beyond  belief.  If  the  same  process  of  development,  in  the  same  parallels  of 
latitude  in  the  United  States,  had  occurred  in  Canada,  if  the  same  advantages 
of  unrestricted  trade  between  the  States  had  been  conferred  upon  her,  these 
regions  would  have  made  a  progress,  in  the  last  one  hundred  years,  so  great 
that  to  propose  their  separation  now,  had  they  been  part  and  parcel  of  the 
Union,  would  be  equal  to  proposing  a  separation  of  the  whole  New  England 


12 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


States,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio  combined.  To  contemplate  the 
Union  without  these  great  commonwealths,  and  then  consider  what  would 
be  the  result  if  Canada  had  been  included  in  the  Union  and  now  desired  to 
withdraw,  would  be  to  contemplate  a  disaster  and  a  loss  almost  beyond 
conception.  It  is  by  such  a  measurement  as  this  that  the  importance  of  the 
question  of  commercial  union  in  North  America  only  can  be  estimated.  If 
such  stupendous  consequences  would  have  resulted  from  the  withdrawal  of 
these  regions  from  the  United  States,  had  they  ever  been  included  within 
the  country,  what  are  the  consequences  likely  to  follow  if,  at  this  late 
date,  an  arrangement  is  reached  whereby  the  better  half  of  the  whole 
continent  is  rendered  just  as  freely  available  now,  and  for  all  time,  as  if  it 
had  been  part  and  parcel  of  the  Union  ?  What  may  not  follow,  if,  with  the 
gathered  energy  of  this  great  people,  having  partially  conquered  the  forces 
which  nature,  in  her  most  generous  mood,  has  placed  Avithin  her  own  border, 
they  should  now  turn  to  the  north  and  west  from  these  regions  the  untold 
treasures  that  lay  hidden  there.  A  practical  question,  therefore,  is :  does 
not  the  opportunity  now  present  itself  whereby  the  United  States  can,  after 
a  lapse  of  a  hundred  years,  make  such  a  bargain  as  will  give  her  all  the 
advantages  that  she  would  have  gained  had  she  originally  included  the 
whole  continent,  instead  of  the  half  of  it,  within  her  borders  ?  If  it  can  be 
proved  that,  by  an  arrangement  between  the  two  countries,  such  an 
advantage  is  offered,  need  there  be  any  question  about  accepting  it  ? 

A  COMMERCIAL   INSTEAD  OF   POLITICAL  UNION. 

It  may  well  be  said  that  it  is  only  by  a  union  of  interests  perfectly 
balanced  one  with  the  other,  that  such  a  result  could  now  be  achieved  as 
that  which  could  have  been  attained,  had  a  political  union  heretofore 
existed,  or,  to  put  it  in  another  way,  that  without  a  political  union  no 
result  so  advantageous  can  now  follow  to  either  country.  Let  us  see  if  this 
be  so.  Is  it  not  possible  now,  under  existing  circumstances,  that  by  a  union 
founded  purely  upon  a  commercial  basis,  such  results  would  follow  as 
would  approach  those  that  would  flow  from  a  political  union  ?  What  is 
there  in  a  political  alliance  with  Canada,  so  far  as  commercial  advantage  is 
concerned,  which  would  not  now  be  possessed  by  this  country  if  the  relation 
existing  between  the  two  countries  was  that  of  a  purely  business  partner- 
ship ?  Do  not  men  with  different  religious  belief  join  each  other  in  busi- 
ness pursuits,  and  achieve  fortunes  ?  Do  not  communities  widely  different 
in  race,  religion,  and  even  color,  trade  freely  and  with  profit  ?  Suppose 
that  so  far  as  trade  and  commerce  are  concerned  every  barrier  were  broken 
down,  and  that  the  interchange  of  commodities  between  the  United  States 
and  Canada  was  just  as  free  and  unrestricted  as  it  is  now  between  the 
States  of  the  Union,  would  not  the  profit  on  that  trade  be  just  as  acceptable 
and  just  as  advantageous  as  the  profits  on  the  trade  between  States  them- 
selves ?  If  the  manufacturer  of  agricultural  implements  in  Ohio,  or  else- 
where, could  sell  the  product,  of  his  establishment  in  Manitoba,  and 
throughout  the  Canadian  Northwestern  territories,  without  let  or  hindrance, 


FROM  A  UNITED  STATES  POINT  OF  VIEW. 


13 


is  he  not  benefited  to  an  extent  just  as  great  as  if  he  sold  his  wares  to  the 
farmer  of  Minnesota  or  Dakota  ?  If  the  boots  and  shoes,  which  are  made 
at  Haverhill  or  Rochester,  or  the  collars  and  cuffs  that  are  made  at  Troy, 
yield  as  good  a  return  to  the  menufacturer,  it  matters  not  to  him  whether 
they  are  worn  by  a  Tory  or  Liberal  in  Ontario,  or  by  a  Democrat  or  Repub- 
lican in  Michigan.  Trade  knows  no  political  boundaries,  and  in  this  age  it 
is  trade  that  we  are  all  after.  The  trade  of  Great  Britain  has  been  an 
extremely  profitable  one,  but  it  has  not  been  confined  by  any  means  to 
nations  with  which  she  has  been  politically  connected.  The  kind  of  union 
which  to-day  can  make  the  United  States  and  Canada  one  is  a  commercial 
union,  a  union  which  knows  no  barriers,  so  far  as  commerce  is  concerned, 
a  union  in  which  freedom  in  its  highest  form  prevails,  freedom  in 
transactions  one  man  with  another  on  the  broad  continent  of  North 
America,  the  vast  products  of  which  are  the  rightful  heritage  of  all 
who  occupy  any  portion  of  it.  But  it  may  well  be  asked,  how  is  it 
possible  to  provide  for  an  alliance  so  close  that  both  countries  may  so 
greatly  benefit,  and  yet  be  politically  separated  ?  Is  it  not  possible  that 
Ohio  and  Ontario  may  interchange  each  other's  products  to  great  mutual 
advantage,  and  be  as  closely  intimate  in  commercial  matters  as  Ohio  and 
Pennsylvania,  and  yet  be  politically  different  and  under  different  forms  of 
government.  Some  will  ask  how .  it  is  possible  that  the  republican  form  of 
government  in  Ohio  can  assimilate  so  closely  with  the  monarchical  form  of 
government  in  Ontario,  that  the  closest  commercial  relations  may  exist  ?  The 
reply  is  that  forms  of  government  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
quality  of  the  iron  which  Canada  possesses  up  the  Valley  of  the  Trent,  and 
which  she  is  very  anxious  should  be  sent  to  Cleveland  to  be  smelted  and 
marketed  for  her.  The  coal  which  Ontario  wants,  and  wants  badly  from 
Pennsylvania,  possesses  no  greater  advantage  because  it  was  mined  under  a  re- 
public and  is  to  be  consumed  under  a  monarchy.  So  with  everything  else.  The 
same  profit  that  comes  with  the  vast  internal  trade  between  the  States  would 
come  with  trade  between  the  States  and  Canada,  if  all  the  barriers  between 
the  two  countries  were  removed.  Suppose  that  Canada  really  sought  for 
admission  to  the  Union,  which  she  is  not  doing  and  is  not  likely  to  do,  the 
chief  advantage  which  would  come  to  her,  would  be  that  which  would  result 
from  an  open  market  among  sixty  millions  of  people  for  her  products.  The 
advantage  whieh  the  United  States  would  gain  by  this  admission  of  Canada 
into  the  nation,  and  dividing  her  territory  into  half  a  dozen  great  States, 
would  be  that  her  vast  stores  of  raw  products  would  be  made  freely  access- 
ible, and  so  available  that  her  own  people  could  go  in  and  possess  themselves 
of  these  riches.  Now  it  is  claimed  that  under  commercial  union  this  would 
follow  just  as  freely,  and  just  as  completely,  as  it  would  under  political 
union.  It  can  be  successfully  maintained  that  by  a  uniform  tariff  against 
all  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  complete  and  unrestricted  intercourse  through- 
out the  continent  of  North  America,  all  the  vast  riches  that  North  America 
possesses  are  available  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof,  no  matter  where  they 
may  be. 


14 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


A   UNION  ALREADY  ILLUSTRATED. 

In  a  limited  degree  the  theory  of  commercial  union  is  already  illustrated 
notwithstanding  the  barriers,  tariffs,  customs  regulations,  and  all  the 
governmental  contrivances  to  retard  the  freedom  of  intercourse.  This  illus- 
tration of  the  possibilities  of  commercial  union  is  found  in  the  enormous 
emigration  to  the  United  States  which  has  taken  place  from  Canada — a 
contribution  to  the  population  of  this  country  of  the  greatest  value  to  her 
progress  and  stability.  In  the  numerous  manufacturing  centres  of  the  New 
England  States,  by  far  the  largest  single  element  are  the  French  Canadians, 
whose  frugality,  industry,  economy,  contentment,  and  above  all,  whose 
fecundity,  are  rapidly  enabling  them  to  possess  a  potent  influence  in  the 
industrial  pursuits  of  important  sections  of  the  country.  Not  only  in  the 
East  are  Canadians  numerous,  but  in  the  West  their  good  qualities  are  ap- 
parent, and  their  influence  in  the  progress  of  the  newer  sections  of  the 
Northwest,  in  railroad  and  other  developments,  their  growth  and  influence 
are  more  distinctively  marked  than  that  of  any  other  foreign  element. 
This  is  because  of  their  ready  adaptability,  their  innate  intelligence,  and 
reliability.  It  is  an  interesting  economic  fact  in  connection  with  the  two 
great  American  nations  occupying  this  Continent,  that  out  of  five  and  a  half 
millions  of  Canadians  known  to  exist,  fully  one  million  are  now  resident 
in  the  United  States.  Of  late  years  the  increase  of  immigration  from 
Canada  bears  a  larger  proportion  to  those  left  at  home  than  from  any  other 
country  contributing  to  the  population  of  the  United  States.  That  so  large 
an  exodus  should  occur  from  a  country  with  such  equality  in  conditions, 
with  such  similarity  in  climate,  pursuits  and  products,  is  most  significant 
testimony  to  the  advantages  possessed  by  the  United  States  in  unre- 
stricted intercourse  which  exists  between  her  several  commonwealths, 
and  to  the  superior  opportunities  for  development  which  this  affords. 
To  extend  these  advantages  to  the  rest  ot  the  Continent  is  the  de- 
sire of  the  commercial  unionist,  and  that  this  extension  would  bene- 
fit and  enrich  the  people  of  the  United  States  is  his  hope  and 
belief.  The  presence  of  so  large  a  body  of  Canadians  here  is  an 
illustration  of  the  benefits  of  a  commercial  intercourse,  which  needs  only 
the  widest  expansion  to  beget  the  largest  benefit.  No  one  for  a  moment 
will  deny  that  this  million  of  population  are  not  only  benefitting  themselves, 
and  the  peojde  whom  they  have  left  behind,  by  the  steady  stream  of  remit- 
tances sent  them,  but  that  they  are  also  benefitting  the  United  States  in  a 
marked  degree.  Who  will  estimate  just  the  results  that  flow  to  this  country 
from  the  industry  and  intelligent  energy  which  this  million  of  Northern 
born  Americans  possess  and  exercise  ?  Who  may  calculate  what  contribu- 
tions to  wealth,  to  progress,  and  especially  to  population,  may  not  be  made 
by  the  sturdy  efforts  of  this  vigorous  race  from  the  North,  who  in  such  large 
I>roportion  to  their  own  numbers  are  afforded  an  unstinted  welcome  here  t 
If  then  it  is  admitted  that  even  by  restricted  intercourse  a  million  of  people 
whom  Canada,  rich  as  she  is,  can  ill  afford  to  spare,  what  would  be  the 
consequence  if  five  millions  of  American  population  went  into  Canada?  It 
is  no  extraordinary  supposition  that  this  would  occur  in  the  next  twenty- 


FUOM  A  U  SITED  STATES  F 01 XT  OF  VIEW. 


15 


five  years,  if  with  unrestricted  intercourse  the  richest  country  in  the  world 
in  natural  resource  was  opened  up  freely  to  American  capital  and  American 
enterprise ;  what  estimate  could  be  placed  on  the  result,  with  all  America 
for  a  market  ?  The  only  thing  that  has  hitherto  retarded  Canada  has  been 
the  restricted  market  which  the  financial  policy  of  the  two  Governments 
have  afforded  hej  ;  but  if  once  the  barriers  between  the  two  countries  were 
obliterated,  her  progress  and  the  growth  of  her  trade  would  be  simply 
enormous.  That  Americans  can  as  well  take  advantage  of  that  progress,  as 
well  participate  in  that  trade,  no  one  doubts ;  for  if  a  million  Canadians 
can  thrive  and  prosper  here,  why  could  not  a  proportionate  number  of 
Americans  thrive  and  prosper  in  Canada,  with  her  virgin  soil,  boundless 
forests  of  timber,  enormous  deposits  of  minerals,  a  limitless  coast  line  of 
fisheries,  and  a  perfect  treasure  house  of  just  such  things  as  this  country 
needs.  Canada  to  the  United  States  is  an  Eldorado,  the  extent  of  whose 
riches  have  never  yet  been  dreamed  of,  and  whose  accessibility  to  American 
skill  and  American  capital  needs  only  the  magic  touch  of  freedom  from 
commercial  restraint  w  hich  now  renders  it  unavailable. 

COMMERCIAL  UNION   WITH   CALIFORNIA  AND  ALASKA. 

The  discovery  and  development  of  California,  distant  and  difficult  of  access 
though  it  was,  had  an  enormous  influence  upon  the  United  States.  Yet 
politically  she  never  materially  influenced  the  policy  or  internal  affairs  of 
the  rest  of  the  country.  Her  trade  has  yielded  to  the  East  large  returns; 
her  products  have  enriched  the  world.  So  it  would  be  with  Canada,  and 
the  effect  upon  the  United  States  of  a  commercial  union  with  her  would  be 
just  as  perfect  as  the  commercial  union  between  New  York  and  California. 
Canada  is  a  far  richer  country  than  California  ;  in  the  variety  of  her  pro- 
ducts exactly  suiting  the  wants  of  the  Eastern  States,  and  above  all  in  her 
contiguity,  she  possesses  advantages  over  any  addition  made  to  the  United 
States  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  If  her  resources,  if  her  products,  her 
possibilities,  are  within  easy  hail  and  easy  acquirement  by  a  commercial 
bargain,  why  should  they  not  be  made  just  as  available  as  those  of  Califor- 
nia? Again,  the  United  States  acquired  for  $7,500,000  the  extreme  northern 
region  of  Alaska.  Did  any  one  suppose  that  politically  it  was  ever  going  to 
have  any  influence  on  the  destinies  of  the  American  people  that  Alaska 
should  be  added  to  the  territorial  area  of  the  United  States  ?  Yret  already  her 
trade  is  attracting  attention.  Enormous  fortunes  have  been  made  out  of 
her  products,  and  to-day,  in  mineral  and  other  development,  her  promise  is 
that  she  will  contribute  greatly  to  the  wealth  and  progress  of  the  United 
States.  What  difference  is  there  between  Alaska  and  Biitish  Columbia, 
that  is  not  in  favor  ot  the  latter  ?  In  extent,  in  fertility,  in  forests,  fisheries, 
minerals,  in  the  finest  coal,  which  California  sadly  needs,  and  in  the  equa- 
bility of  her  climate  and  her  general  location,  she  possesses  the  potentialities 
of  a  development  far  superior  to  that  of  Alaska.  Why  should  not  the 
American  traders  possess  themselves  of  the  advantages  of  British  Columbia, 
its  natural  riches,  and  the  trade  that  will  follow  their  certain  development 


16 


COMMERCIAL  UXIOX  WITH  C AX  ADA 


if  the  same  free  market  is  open  to  them  that  is  now  open  to  distant  Alaska  ? 
Only  the  barriers  that  the  t  wo  governments  erect  by  common  consent  make 
the  obstacle.  By  common  consent  let  the  barriers  be  obliterated,  and  by  a 
commercial  union  between  the  twro  countries  open  up  for  development  the 
finest  country  the  sun  ever  shone  upon,  for  a  market  the  most  ample,  and 
the  most  profitable  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

A   POLITICAL   UNION   NOW  IMPRACTICABLE. 

But  it  vrill  be  said  in  the  United  States  that  a  political  union  between  the 
United  States  and  Canada  would  be  a  much  greater  boon,  and  that  in  order 
to  obtain  all  the  advantages  of  a  free  American  market,  a  political  union  is 
a  necessity.  This  may  well  be  doubted.  Indeed,  in  many  respects,  com- 
mercial union  between  Canada  and  the  United  States  is  much  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  a  political  union  in  the  present  juncture  of  affairs.  When  the 
political  millennium  in  the  United  States  arrives,  which  all  politicians  are 
after,  there  will  be  a  period  when,  if  Canada  desires  to  be  admitted,  it 
might  be  done,  for  then  she  could  come  in  without  entirely  upsetting  the 
political  status  of  the  whole  nation.  At  present  the  admission  of  five 
millions  of  people  into  the  UnioD,  whose  political  tendencies  were  unknown, 
would  precipitate  into  politics  such  an  element  of  uncertainty  as  to  com- 
pletely baffle  the  calculations  of  the  most  astute  politicians.  While  parties 
are  so  evenly  balanced  that  a  single  speech  of  an  inoffensive  Dominie,  who 
loved  to  indulge  in  alliteration,  is  credited  with  having  changed  the  char- 
acter of  an  entire  administration,  what  might  not  be  the  consequences 
when  such  unknown  quantities  would  be  introduced  into  the  contest  as  the 
French  vote  of  Quebec,  the  Orange  vote  of  Ontario,  or  the  Catholic  vote  of 
all  the  provinces.  No  office-seeking  patriot  in  the  United  States,  no  calcu- 
lating politician,  not  even  the  mild-mannered  partisan,  believing  that  his 
country  was  safer  with  the  party  of  his  choice,  would  feel  content  with  the 
admission  of  Canada  into  all  the  privileges  of  suffrage,  or  participation  in 
the  government  of  the  country,  when  thereby  every  calculation  was  upset 
and  every  combination  destroyed.  Again,  the  admission  of  Canada 
into  the  United  States  would  involve  the  assumption  of  her  public 
debt,  which  is  a  very  heavy  and  increasing  one.  Having  been 
largely  created  by  expenditure  for  a  great  system  of  public  works, 
and  the  perfection  of  the  means  of  communication  extending  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  the  obligations  incurred  would  have  to  be 
adjusted,  and  the  assets  assumed  in  a  manner  entirely  different  from 
that  which  has  grown  up  with  the  growth  of  each  State  and  Territory. 
Aside  from  these  difficulties,  so  hurriedly  sketched,  there  are  numerous 
other  considerations  which  make  it  impossible  that  Canada  could  with 
advantage  be  admitted  into  political  union  with  the  United  States.  The 
chief  of  these  objections,  however,  does  not  rest  with  the  United  States, 
but  lies  in  the  fact  that  Canada  herself  is  strongly  opposed  to  a  political 
alliance.  It  is  true  that  there  are  some  Canadians,  as  there  are  many 
Americans,  who  feel  that  the  manifest  destiny  of  all  the  English-speaking 
nations  of  the  North  American  Continent  will  be  political  unity. 


FROM  A  EXITED  STATES  POINT  OF  VIEW. 


17 


CANADIAN   LOYALTY  A  BARRIER  TO  ANNEXATION. 

Those  who  are  most  acquainted,  however,  with  the  public  sentiment 
in  Canada  know  that  loyalty  to  British  institutions  permeates  the  whole 
country,  and  that  with  mother  s  milk  has  been  drunk  in  the  love  for  the 
mother  land  ;  love  for  the  good  Queen  who  has  ruled  them  so  wisely  for 
half  a  century,  and  pride  in  all  the  glory  of  British  connection;  belief  in 
British  prowess,  and  faith  in  the  integrity  of  the  British  Empire.  Americans 
-who  have  shown  their  love  of  country  by  the  vast  sacrifices  they  have  made 
to  preserve  its  integrity  -will  not  quarrel  with  this  devotion  of  their  Cana- 
dian neighbors,  because  they  love  their  own  land  and  the  great  u  nion  on 
the  other  side  of  the  sea  that  gave  their  ancestors  birth.  The  sturdy  loyalty 
of  Canadians,  to-day,  never  endured  the  severe  strain  that  was  put  upon 
the  loyalty  of  the  colonies  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  the  resistance  to  which 
resulted  in  the  independence  and  creation  of  the  great  constellation  of 
commonwealths  that  now  rule  so  large  a  portion  of  the  continent.  The 
Jesuits  of  that  resistance  to  British  rule  have  not  been  confined  to  the  United 
States.  They  have  indeed  been  world-wide  in  their  effects;  but  to  no  coun- 
try in  the  world  have  the  results  been  more  beneficial  than  to  Canada.  The 
difference  iu  the  mode  of  government  of  Canada  by  the  British  authorities 
now,  as  compared  with  the  mode  of  government  attempted  in  the  colonies 
previous  to  the  American  revolution,  is  the  difference  between  despotism 
and  freedom — the  difference  between  the  dawn  of  an  imperfect  civilization 
and  the  full  sunlight  of  the  glorious  present.  Had  the  same  liberality 
prevailed  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  eeutury  iu  the  treatment  of 
her  colonies  by  Great  Britain,  as  has  prevailed  in  the  latter  half 
of  this  century,  there  could,  have  been  no  American  revolution ;  there 
could  have  been  no  cause  for  separation,  and  the  great  experiment  of 
republican  instil utions,  on  the  vast  scale  now  being  worked  out.  would 
never  have  been  undertaken,  because  it  would  never  have  been  justified. 
Canada  has,  however,  profited  by  these  stupendous  events,  which  for  a 
hundred  years  have  been  occurring  on  her  border,  and  in  no  respect  greater 
than  that,  while  she  has  maintained  the  British  connection,  she  has  enjoyed 
all  the  privileges  of  self-government.  Thus,  to-day,  except  in  the  mere 
treaty-making  power,  she  is  just  as  free  and  just  as  self-reliant  as  if  she 
were  entirely  independent.  The  relations  which  exist  between  England 
and  the  Dominion  imply  no  interference  whatever  with  local  government ; 
not  even  with  the  tariff  which  taxes  the  products  of  Great  Britain,  as  you 
have  seen,  with  the  same  rigor  that  applies  to  the  products  of  all  other 
couutries.  Not  a  dollar  of  contribution  is  asked  from  the  colony  to  the 
Exchequer  of  England,  while  not  a  dollar  of  money  of  the  British  govern- 
ment is  asked  for  by  the  Canadian  authorities.  About  the  only  tie  that  is 
visible  between  the  mother  and  daughter  now  is,  that  the  mother  selects, 
every  now  and  again,  some  distinguished  member  of  the  British  aristocracy, 
who,  as  a  guest,  she  coolly  asks  Canada  to  entertain  for  a  few  years  as  a 
representative  of  royalty  in  the  person  of  the  Governor-General.  A  few 
years  ago  the  selection  was  made  from  the  Queen's  own  household, 
and  for  a  time  the  Marquis  of  Lorne  and  his  charming  wife,  Princess 
2 


18 


COMMERCIAL  UNJtON  WITH  CANADA 


Louise,  held  a  mimic  court  at  Ottawa.  More  recently  the  able  and 
accomplished  Lord  Lansdowxe,  with  his  good  lady,  have  dispensed  the 
hospitalities  of  Rideau  Hall,  at  Ottawa,  the  Vice-Regal  residence,  and 
won  all  hearts  by  their  cordiality  and  unaffected  courtesy.  It  is 
now  only  by  such  ties  as  these  that  a  connection  is  visible  between 
Great  Britain  aud  her  great  colony  on  this  side  of  the  sea,  implying 
an  interference  so  slight  as  to  be  in  startling  contrast  with  the 
exactions,  annoyances,  and  petty  tyrannies  exercised  by  Great  Britain  with 
her  North  American  colonies  prior  to  the  American  Revolution.  It  is  true 
that  Canada  is  the  gaiuer  of  the  heritage  of  self-government,  as  the  result 
of  the  struggle  for  independe nee  which  the  United  States  endured ;  while 
her  loyalty  has  been  cultured  and  made  perpetual  by  the  liberality  of  the 
treatment  she  has  received  at  the  hands  of  the  mother  country. 

EARLY   INFLUENCES   AS   AGAINST   LATE  EVENTS. 

Nothing,  perhaps,  has  contributed  in  a  greater  or  more  marked  degree  to 
the  devotion  to  British  institutions  which  Canada  constantly  manifests  than 
the  influences  set  in  motion  by  that  band  of  patriots  from  the  United  States 
known  as  the  United  Empire  loyalists.  Have  you  ever  realized  just  what 
sacrifices  these  sturdy  loyalists  of  the  Revolution  made,  rather  than  yield  to 
the  prevailing  sentiment  of  what  they  considered  disloyalty.  History  has 
few  instances  of  greater  interest  than  given  by  those  who,  because  of  their 
devotion  to  British  institutions  and  British  forms  of  government,  would 
not  join  in  an  armed  resistance  to  the  land  that  gave  them  birth,  and  for- 
saking their  happy  homes,  bidding  good-bye  to  fortune  and  to  an  assured 
future,  taking  with  them  their  wives  and  little  ones,  with  slender  means, 
stepped  out  into  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness,  and  doomed  themselves 
and  their  children  to  hardships  that  few  have  ever  realized,  in  some  cases 
to  almost  literal  starvation,  and  yet  enduring  it  all  with  patience  and 
a  high  sense  of  duty.  All  honor  to  the  memory  of  such  men,  whose 
principles  of  patriotism  were  so  deeply  founded  that  sacrifices  such  as 
these  could  be  endured.  The  world  is  the  better  for  the  existence  of 
.such  men.  The  effect  of  their  influence  and  of  the  loyalty  the  example 
of  which  they  so  gloriously  set,  still  exists,  and  to  those  who  understand  its 
full  effects,  it  is  idle  now  to  dream  of  a  political  union  between  Cauada  and 
fhe  United  Stares.  It  is  alluded  to  because  there  is  a  tendency  in  the 
American  mind  to  feel  that  isolation,  and  a  refusal  to  admit  Canada  to  the 
privileges  of  the  market  of  the  United  States,  will  have  the  effect  of  forcing 
them  into  a  humble  position  as  applicants  for  a  political  alliance.  Doubt- 
less the  repeal  of  the  reciprocity  treaty  in  1866  was  largely  influenced  by 
this  consideration,  but  it  had  an  effect  entirely  contrary  to  that  which  was 
expected,  and  to-day  there  is  hot  in  the  wide  world  a  country  more  loyal 
in  its  sentiment  than  is  Canada  to  British  connection.  Possibly  in  the  far 
future,  by  close  alliance  and  intimate  business  relation,  a  different  state  of 
affairs  may  prevail,  and  it  may  be  that  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  in 
favor  of  a  commercial  union,  in  the  minds  of  some  who  think  upon  the 
subject,  will  be  found  to  be  the  hope  that  the  great  English  speaking  nations 


FROM  A  UNITED  STATES  POINT  OF  VIE W. 


19 


on  this  continent  will  by-and-by  become  one  and  the  same.  Fifty  or  a 
.hundred  years  of  that  close  commercial  alliance  ma  y  ha  ve  this  result.  It 
certainly  will  not  have  the  effect  of  keeping  them  farther  apart.  With 
that  future  we  to-day  have  nothing  to  do,  because  that  can  alone  be 
decided  by  those  who  will  then  have  the  say  in  the  matter.  Those  who 
come  hereafter  may  be  safely  trusted  to  look  after  their  own  affairs,  and 
the  future  may  be  sa  fely  left  to  take  care  of  itself.  If  annexation  ever  does 
come,  it  will  be  the  logic  of  events  in  their  natural  order,  rather  than  the 
Jesuit  of  any  forcing  process.  There  are  some  who  believe  that  commercial 
union  will  give  to  Canada  all  the  advantages  of  apolitical  union,  and,  being 
practically  independent  and  immeasurably  content  with  her  political  situ- 
ation, she  need  never  seek  to  dissolve  her  British  connection.  There  are 
others  who  believe  that  the  attractions  of  the  American  system  are  so  great 
that,  once  the  people  come  together  in  close  trade  relations,  the  Canadians 
will  largely  seek  all  the  advantages  which  are  here  offered,  including  the 
admission  of  a  foreign  vote  of  an  unknown  quantity ;  the  beauties  of  the 
primary  as  the  pure  source  of  political  power,  an  elective  judiciary,  and 
the  system  by  which  the  professional  politicians  thrive  and  make  fortunes. 
Others  doubt  this.  No  possible  harm  can  come  from  a  close  and  intimate 
business  connection,  such  as  one  nation  by  mutual  agreement  may  offer  to 
the  other.  If  it  should  result  in  political  union  hereafter,  it  will  be 
■owing  to  gradual  assimilation  of  the  people  and  their  interests.  If  it 
does  not,  all  the  advantages  of  trade  and  commerce  will  have  been 
achieved,  and  all  that  is  best  in  them  and  in  their  country  will  have  been 
•developed. 

ADVANTAGES  TO  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Mr.  Wiman  said  that  he  had  dwelt  at  great  length  on  the  condition  of 
matters  in  Canada,  because  there  was  a  constant  misapprehension  in  this 
country  as  to  the  motives  that  move  the  people  of  that  country  in  their 
desire  for  commercial  union,  and  the  possibilities  that  exist  for  a  political 
alliance.  He  had  to  apologize  for  occupying  so  much  space  in  regard  to 
this  matter,  but  felt  that  its  importance  called  for  the  fullest  explanation. 
It  was  much  more  pleasant  now  to  turn  to  the  advantages  which  must 
.accrue  to  the  United  States  by  a  commercial  union  with  Canada.  One  of 
the  first  objections  encountered  in  the  United  States  to  this  project,  was  the 
fear  that  Canada  would  thereby  get  some  advantage  over  ther/».  No  people 
in  the  w  orld  were  more  jealous  in  a  trade  than  Americans,  and  if  there  was 
one  iota  of  gain  to  the  other  side  which  theirs  did  not  possess  it  would 
almost  be  fatal  to  the  transaction.  In  a  transaction  so  transcendently 
important,  it  was  difficult  to  see  just  who  would  gain  the  greatest  possible 
advantage,  but  it  can  be  clearly  shown  that  however  Canada  might 
prosper,  the  United  States  would  also  be  greatly  benefitted.  In  the  de- 
velopment of  the  resources  of  Canada  ,  the  greatest  possibilities  exist  for 
profit  to  those  who  are  concerned.  As  has  been  before  said,  Canada  was  an 
Eldorado,  a  treasure  house  possessing  enormous  supplies  of  just  those 
resources  that  the  United  States  most  greatly  need — resources  that  can 


20 


COMMERCIAL  UXIOX  WITH  CAXADA 


be  made  contributory  in  a  greater  degree  to  the  progress  of  this  country 
than  those  of  any  portion  of  the  continent.  The  catalogue  of  the  natural 
and  national  possessions  of  Canada  was  a  long  one,  and  the  speaker  would 
not  attempt  to  enumerate  them,  but  here  were  a  few  leading  articles  which 
should  be  referred  to.    Before  doing  so  however,  allusion  should  be  made- 

TO  THE  AREA  OF  CANADA. 

Do  you  realize  that  the  region  which  a  commercial  union  with  Canada 
will  open  up  to  the  trade  aud  commerce  of  the  United  States  is  an  area  con- 
siderably greater  than  that  covered  by  the  United  States  themselves  ?  The- 
area  of  square  miles  in  the  Union  is  3,036.000 ;  the  area  of  square  miles  in 
Canada  is  3,500,000  square  miles.  As  Mr.  George  Johxsox,  the  distinguished 
head  of  the  Government  Literary  Bureau  at  Ottawa,  author  of  the  most 
recent  Hand-book  of  Canada,  says: 

"  It  is  most  difficult  to  convey  any  adequate  conception  of  the  vastness  of 
the  country.  England,  Wales  and  Scotland  together  form  an  area  of  88,000 
square  miles.  You  can  cut  forty  such  areas  out  of  Canada.  New  South 
Wales  contains  309,000  square  miles,  and  is  larger  than  France,  Continental 
Italy  and  Sicily.  Canada  would  make  eleven  countries  the  size  of  New 
South  Wales.  There  are  (in  extent)  three  British  Iudias  in  Canada,  and 
still  enough  left  over  to  make  a  Queensland  and  a  Victoria.  The  German 
Empire  could  be  carved  out  of  Canada,  and  fifteen  more  countries  of  the 
same  size." 

There  are  eleven  Provinces,  (including  Provisional  Provinces)  four  of  which 
are  maritime,  and  all  of  which, except  three,  have  a  sea-board,  or  are  accessible 
from  the  sea.  As  a  rule  the  people  of  the  United  states  have  the  impression 
that  Canada  is  but  an  eel-skin  of  a  country,  fringing  the  border  of  a  frozen 
region  from  Halifax  in  Nova  Scotia  to  Sarnia  in  Ontario.  How  mistaken 
this  notion  is  those  who  have  seen  the  thrift  of  the  older  Provinces  will 
readily  testify.  But  even  the  great  Provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Bruns- 
wick, Quebec  and  Ontario  are  but  the  vestibules  and  ante-chambers  of  a 
region  undreamt  of  until  within  the  last  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  a 
region  just  as  full  of  product,  promise  and  profit  as  is  your  own  Minnesota, 
Dakota,  and  Montana.  Just  think  that  the  basin  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  is 
2,000,000  square  miles  in  extent,  and  then  realize  that  the  whole  area  of  the 
United  States  is  3,036,000  square  miles.  The  Pacific  slope,  within  Canada,, 
covers  an  area  of  341,000  square  miles,  while  the  whole  area  of  the  basin  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  Eiver,  within  the  United  States,  is  only  70,000  square 
miles.  The  plains  of  Saskatchewan  Eiver  measure  500,000  square  miles, 
and  in  climate  product,  and  every  other  advantage  are,  according  to  Lord 
Selkirk,  capable  of  supporting  thirty  millions  of  people.  The  extent  of 
Canada  maybe  best  illustrated  by  the  statemeut  that  the  excess  of  its  area 
over  that  of  the  United  States  is  greater  than  the  whole  area  included  in 
the  States  joining  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  But,  perhaps,  no 
better  or  more  interesting  illustration  of  the  magnitude  of  the  country  can 
be  given  than  by  an  extract  from  a  speech  by  the  eloquent  Earl  of  Dufferin,. 
who  took  a  novel  way  to  correct  the  gross  misapprehension  that  exists  in 


FROM  A  VXITEI)  STATES  POIST  OF  VIEW. 


21 


England,  as  well  as  in  the  United  States,  as  to  the  extent  of  Canada.  He 
said: 

"Perhaps  the  best  way  of  correcting  such  a  universal  misapprehension 
would  be  by  a  summary  of  the  rivers  which  How  through  them,  for  we  know 
that  as  a  poor  man  cannot  afford  to  live  in  a  big  house,  so  a  small  country 
cannot  support  a  big  river.  Now  to  an  Englishman  or  a  Erenchmau  the 
Severn  or  the  Thames,  the  Seine  or  the  Rhone  wonld  appear  considerable 
streams,  but  in  the  Ottawa,  a  mere  abluent  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  an  affluent 
moreover  which  reaches  the  parent  stream  six  hundred  miles  from  its 
mouth,  we  have  a  river  nearly  five  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long,  and  three 
or  four  times  as  big  as  any  of  them.  But  even  after  having  ascended  the 
St.  Lawrence  itself  to  Lake  Ontario,  and  pursued  it  across  Lake  Huron, 
St.  Clair,  and  Lake  Superior  to  Thunder  Bay,  a  distance  of  one  thousand 
five  hundred  miles,  where  are  we  ?  In  the  estimation  of  the  person  who 
has  made  the  journey,  at  the  end  of  all  things ;  but  to  us,  who  know 
better,  scarcely  at  the  commencement  of  the  great  fluvial  systems  of  the 
Dominiou  ;  for,  from  that  spot,  that  is  to  say,  from  Thunder  Bay,  we  are  able 
at  once  to  ship  our  astonished  traveller  on  to  the  Kaministiquia,  a  river  of 
some  hundred  miles  long.  Thence,  almost  in  a  straight  line,  we  launch  him 
on  to  Lake  Shebandowan  and  Rainy  Lake  and  River — a  magnificent  stream 
three  hundred  yards  broad  and  a  couple  of  hundred  miles  long,  down  whose 
tranquil  bosom  he  floats  into  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  where  he  finds  himself 
on  a  sheet  of  water  which,  though  diminutive  as  compared  with  the  inland 
seas  he  has  left  behind  him,  will  probably  be  found  sufficiently  extensive  to 
render  him  fearfully  sea  sick  during  his  passage  across  it.  Eor  the  last 
eighty  miles  of  his  voyage,  however,  he  will  be  consoled  by  sailing  through 
a  succession  of  land-locked  chanuels,  the  beauty  of  whose  scenery,  while  it 
resembles,  certainly  excels  the  far-famed  Thousand  Islands  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence. From  this  lacustrine  paradise  of  sylvan  beauty  we  are  able  at  once 
to  transfer  our  friend  to  the  Winnipeg,  a  river  whose  existence  in  the  very 
heart  and  centre  of  the  continent  is  in  itself  one  of  Nature's  most  delightful 
miracles,  so  beautiful  and  varied  are  its  rocky  banks,  its  tufted  islands,  so 
broad,  so  deep,  so  fervid  is  the  volume  of  its  waters,  the  extent  of  their  lake- 
like expansions,  and  the  tremendous  power  of  their  rapids.  At  last  let  us 
suppose  we  have  landed  our  traveller  at  the  town  of  Winnipeg,  thehalf-way 
house  of  the  continent,  the  capital  of  the  Prairie  Province.  Having  had  so 
much  of  water,  having  now  reached  the  home  of  the  buffalo,  like  the  exte- 
nuated Falstaff,  he  naturally  'babbles  of  green  fields'  and  careers  in  imagina- 
tion over  the  primeval  grasses  of  the  prairie.  Not  at  all.  We  ask  him  which 
he  will  ascend  first — the  Red  River  or  the  Assiniboine,  two  streams,  the  one 
five  hundred  miles  long,  the  other  four  hundred  and  eighty,  which  mingle 
their  waters  within  the  city  limits  of  Winnipeg.  After  having  giveu  him 
a  preliminary  canter  up  these  respective  rivers  we  take  him  off  to  Lake 
Winnipeg,  an  inland  sea  three  hundred  miles  long  and  upwards  of  sixty 
broad,  during  the  navigation  of  which  for  many  a  weary  hour  he  will  find 
himself  out  of  sight  of  land,  and  probably  a  good  deal  more  indisposed  than 
ever  he  was  on  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  or  even  the  Atlantic.  At  the  north- 
west angle  of  Lake  Winnipeg  he  hits  upon  the  mouth  of  the  Saskatchewan, 
the  gateway  to  the  North  West,  and  the  starting  point  to  another  one 
thousand  five  hundred  miles  of  navigable  water,  flowing  nearly  due  east 
and  west  between  its  alluvial  banks.  Having  now  reached  the  foot  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  our  'ancient  mariner',  for  by  this  time  he  will  be  quite 
entitled  to  such  an  appellation,  knowing  that  water  cannot  run  up  hill,  feels 
certain  his  aquatic  experiences  are  concluded.  He  was  never  more  mistaken. 
We  immediately  launch  him  upon  the  Arthabaska  and  Mackenzie  rivers, 
and  start  him  on  a  longer  trip  than  any  he  has  yet  undertaken — the  navi- 
gation of  the  Mackenzie  rivet  alone  exceeding  two  thousand  five  hundred 
miles.  If  he  survives  this  last  experience  we  wind  up  his  peregrinations 
by  a  concluding  voyage  of  one  thousand  four  hundred  miles  down  the  Eraser 


22 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


river,  or,  if  he  prefers  it,  the  Thompson  river,  to  Victoria,  in  Vancouver,, 
whence,  having  previously  provided  him  with  a  first-class  return  ticket 
for  that  purpose,  he  will  probably  prefer  getting  home  via  the  Canadian 
Pacific." 

THE  CLIMATIC  CONDITIONS. 

Having  attempted  to  convey  to  you  an  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  Canada 
as  a  country,  the  next  thing  to  attempt  will  be  to  satisfy  you  that  this  vast 
country  is  not  a  frozen  region,  incapable  of  producing  agricultural  products, 
or  otherwise  being  anything  else  than  a  section  of  the  North  Pole.  That  is 
the  general  impression  that  exists,  not  only  in  England,  but  even  among 
distinguished  Statesmen  of  the  United  States.  You  will  therefore  perhaps 
be  surprised  to  be  told  that  of  all  the  advantages  which  Canada  possesses, 
the  one  which  of  all  others  she  may  rely  the  most  on  for  her  future  greatness, 
is  her  climate  !  As  Malte  Brux  said,  in  relation  to  the  region  now  included 
in  Canada,  u  Everything  there  is  in  proper  keeping  for  the  development  of 
the  combined  and  mental  energies  of  man.  There  are  to  be  found  at  once 
the  hardihood  of  character  which  conquers  difficulties,  the  climate  which 
stimulates  exertion,  and  the  natural  advantages  which  reward  enterprise. 
Nature  has  marked  out  this  country  for  exalted  destinies."  As  has  been 
well  said,  Canada  has  in  fact  all  the  climates  of  Europe,  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  as  might  be  expected,  seeing  that  it  extends  from 
the  latitude  of  Rome  in  Italy  to  that  of  Cape  North  iu  Norway,  and  is  almost 
of  equal  area.  In  respect  to  this  question  of  climate  one  cannot  do  better 
than  to  quote  from  the  versatile  George  Johuson,  who  says  : 

"A  large  portion  of  Canada  is  in  latitudes  which  in  Europe  have  proved 
the  most  favorable  to  the  health  of  man.  The  mean  temperature  of  the 
regions  watered  by  the  Moose  and  Abbitibi  Rivers  corresponds  with  the 
north  of  Europe,  being  65°  F.  The  regions  drained  by  the  northern  part  of 
the  Ottawa  and  by  the  Saguenay,  and  the  northern  parts  of  Nova  Scotia, 
correspond  with  the  south  coast  of  England,  Paris,  the  middle  of  Germany, 
and  the  south  of  Russia,  being  60°  F.,  while  65°  F.  represents  the  summer 
temperature  of  the  regions  bordering  upon  the  Upper  St.  Lawrence  Lakes, 
London,  Torouto,  Kingston,  Montreal,  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Quebec,  and 
eastwards  to  Fredericton,  the  capital  of  the  province  of  New  Brunswick. 
###****** 

"  Altitude  more  than  latitude  make3  climate,  and  in  this  respect  Canada 
occupies  a  position  superior  to  most  regions.  According  to  Humboldt, 
Europe  has  a  mean  elevation  of  671  feet,  South  America  of  1,132,  Asia  of 
1,151,  and  North  America  of  748  feet.  The  Canadian  part  of  North  America 
is  placed  at  300  feet.  ******** 

"The  ascent  from  the  ocean  to  Lake  Superior  does  not  average  more  than 
six  inches  in  a  mile,  and  even  this  ascent  is  not  markedly  noticeable  till  we 
proceed  westward.  Montreal,  the  head  of  ocean  navigation,  reached  only 
after  passing  over  several  hundred  miles  of  fresh  surface  water,  is  at  low 
water  but  eighteen  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  as  it  rolls  under  the 
lighter  fresh  water  along  the  bed  of  its  estuary.        *  *  *  * 

"The  marine  currents  are  singularly  favorable  to  Canada.  Along  the 
Atlantic  coast  the  gulf  stream  exerts  its  benign  influences  to  such  an  extent 
that  on  Sable  Island  there  are  troops  of  wild  ponies,  the  progenitors  of 
which,  two  centuries  ago,  were  ship-wrecked  and  cast  upon  the  island,  and 
there,  successive  generations,  without  shelter  of  any  kind,  have  lived  and 


FROM  A  UNITED  STATES  POIST  OF  VIEW. 


23 


multiplied.  In  Halifax,  in  the  depth  of  winter,  a  dozen  hours  of  south  wind 
will  mow  down  tbe  snow-banks,  as  a  mowing  machine  cuts  down  the 
ripened  grass. 

"  Along  the  Canadian  littoral  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  the  Japanese  current 
produces  the  same  effect  on  the  climate  as  the  gulf  stream  does  in  England. 
Vancouver  Island  is  like  the  south  of  England,  except  that  it  has  a  greater 
summer  heat  with  less  humidity.  In  the  vicinity  of  Victoria  the  highest 
temperature  in  the  shade  in  July  and  August  ranges  from  80  to  90 z  F., 
while  the  theimometer  in  winter  seldom  goes  as  low  as  22°  below  freezing 
point.  As  respects  the  ocean  currents,  it  may  be  said  that  they  make  a 
difference  in  the  regions  affected  by  them  of  10s  of  latitude.  * 

"In  the  district  of  Alberta,  the  winter  climate  is  comparatively  mild,  not 
severe  ;  blizzards  are  unknown,  and  stock  winter  in  the  open  air  and  come 
out  fat  and  in  good  condition  in  the  spring.  The  government  statistics 
show  that  there  are  now  fifty-one  ranches  in  which  stock  has  been  placed; 
that  they  vary  in  size  from  1,500  to  100.000  acres,  and  have  a  combiued  area 
of  1,693,670  acres.  The  reports  from  all  are  favorable  as  to  the  future, 
speaking  well  for  the  climate  in  mid-winter.  The  great  bodies  of  water 
which  are  a  distinguishing  feature  of  Canada  also  exert  considerable  influ- 
ence upou  the  climate.  Hudson's  Bay  is  1,000  miles  long  by  600  wide.  Its 
temperature  is  65°  E.  during  summer:  in  winter,  it  is  3°  warmer  than  the 
waters  of  Lake  Superior.  The  chain  of  fresh  water  lakes,  which,  almost 
without  a  break,  extends  between  latitude  41-45  aud  latitude  51  north,  aud 
from  longitude  75  to  longitude  120,  covers,  together  with  the  smaller  lakes, 
an  area  of  130,000  square  miles,  and  contains  nearly  one-half  of  all  the  fresh 
water  on  the  surface  of  the  globe.  The  moderating  influences  of  these  large 
bodies  of  water,  which  never  freeze  over,  will  be  at  once  recognized." 

That  the  climatic  influences,  even  in  the  extreme  Xorthwest,  are  not 
unfavorable  is  best  illustrated  by  the  facility  with  which  wheat  is  grown  in 
Northern  latitudes.  Lord  Dufferin  claimed  that  most  of  the  streams  he  so 
eloquently  described  in  the  Xorthwest  flowed  their  entire  length  through 
alluvial  plains  of  the  richest  description,  where  year  after  year  wheat  can 
he  raised  without  manure,  and  without  any  sensible  diminution  of  its  yield, 
and  where  the  soil  everywhere  presents  the  appearance  of  a  highly  culti- 
vated suburban  kitchen  garden.  The  wheat  plant  is  supposed  to  be  one  of  the 
most  delicate  of  plants,  but  for  the  growth  of  wheat  the  climatic  conditions 
most  favorable  to  it  seems  in  the  North  :  witness  the  change  within  memory 
of  man  from  the  Genesee  Valley  in  New  York  to  Ohio,  then  to  Minnesota  and 
Dakota,  and  now  why  not  to  the  wli-at  areas  of  Northwestern  Canada, 
where  there  is  said  to  he  466,000  square  miles  of  wheat-hearing  territory. 
Indeed,  it  is  claimed  with  considerable  show  of  truth  that  the  wheat  bearing 
areas  of  Canada  far  exceed  the  wheat-bearing  areas  of  the  United  States,  a 
fact  of  vast  significance  when  one  contemplates  the  impor  tance  that  attaches 
to  this  food  of  the  world.  One  or  two  facts  of  great  importance  in  relation 
to  the  production  of  wheat  in  these  Northern  regions  should  impress  itself 
upon  you  and  upon  all  the  world  :  one  of  these  is,  that  owing  to  the  nearness 
of  this  wheat-bearing  area  to  the  North  Pole,  the  sun,  duriug  the  summer 
months,  affords  two  hours  longer  of  forcing  power  than  elsewhere  on  the 
continent,  where  wheat  can  be  grown.  Two  hours  a  day  of  additional  sun- 
light during  a  wheat  growing  season  is  of  enormous  importance,  and  gives 
to  these  regions  an  advantage  which  the  frost  and  cold  of  the  balance  of  the 
year  in  no  way  lessen.  '  But  even  the  frost  and  cold,  strange  to  say,  afford 


24 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CAXADA 


an  advantage  in  the  production  of  the  delicate  wheat  plant.  This  advantage 
is  found  in  the  fact  that,  owing  to  the  depth  in  the  ground  which  the  frost 
penetrate,  the  earth  is  never  entirely  free  from  its  influence,  and,  deep  down 
in  the  rich  alluvial  soil,  there  remains  a  well  spring  of  moisture,  which 
under  the  long  and  strong  sun's  rays  constantly  exudes,  and  keeps  moist  the 
tender  roots  of  the  plant.  Hence  droughts  and  absence  of  rain  have  no  terror 
to  the  wheat  producer  of  the  great  Northwest. 

But  no  matter  what  area  is  afforded,  no  matter  what  are  the  advantages 
offered,  population  and  occupancy  are  the  essentials  to  make  all  these 
available.  Through  the  United  States  there  is  now  coming  a  vast  army  of 
European  emigrants,  that,  if  the  border  line  were  imperceptible,  would  as 
readily  occupy  the  vast  stretches  of  the  Canadian  Northwestern  Provinces 
as  anywhere  else.  If,  by  sinking  out  of  sight  the  barriers  that  divide  the 
two  countries,  the  United  States  could  get  the  trade  that  these  new  commu- 
nities would  create,  why  should  she  hesitate  to  do  so. 

WEALTH   IN  IRON. 

There  is  no  country  in  the  world  which  possesses  so  much  iron  as  Canada. 
In  no  land  is  it  so  easily  mined,  and  nowhere  is  it  quite  so  accessible  to 
great  manufacturing  centres. 

The  impression  exists  in  the  ordinary  mind  that  the  supplies  of  iron 
which  the  United  States  produce  are  abundantly  adequate  for  her  needs, 
but  such  is  not  the  case,  as  our  imports  of  iron  are  something  enormous. 
For  the  present  season  the  amount  of  rails  which  have  been  brought  in  reach 
in  all  400,000  tons,  costing  at  $40  a  ton,  $16,000,000,  including  a  payment 
to  the  United  States  government  of  $17  a  ton,  or  $6,800,000.  In  addition  to 
this  the  amount  of  blooms  to  be  rolled  into  rails  will  amount  to  nearly  an 
additional  200,000  tons,  while  the  imported  raw  ore  will  amount  to  over  a 
million  tons,  which  pays  a  duty  of  75  cents  for  every  ton.  and  which  costs 
laid  down  here  from  $7  to  *8  a  ton.  It  may  seem  a  little  surprising  to  you 
that  the  great  new  discoveries  of  iron  in  the  Gogebic  Ranges,  which  you 
thought  were  sufficient  to  swamp  all  the  markets  of  the  United  States,  are 
still  unable  to  furnish  the  demand  from  the  furnaces  of  the  United  States, 
•  and  that  the  Island  of  Elba,  which  was  worked  before  the  Christian  era  by 

the  Romans,  is  still  furnishing  the  furnaces  at  Pittsburgh  ;  that  the  mills 
of  Andrew  Carnegie— the  star-spangled  Scotchman,  the  typical  modern 
American  manufacturer — are  deriving  their  supplies  from  a  source  so  old, 
so  ancient  as  that  which  was  worked  by  the  Romans  two  thousand  years 
ago.  How  strangely  is  the  past  linked  thus  with  the  present  ?  The  plates 
for  building  our  war  ships  and  our  cannons,  which  are  made  by  the 
Bethlehem  Iron  Company,  are  wholly  derived  from  Spain.  Is  it  not  a 
strange  illustration  of  the  necessity  that  sometimes  exists  for  "  carrying 
coals  to  Newcastle,"'  that  iron  from  the  new  region  of  Canada  penetrated 
by  the  Kingston  Ac  Pembroke  Railway  is  absolutely  being  mined  in  Canada 
and  carried  up  the  river  past  your  own  doors  to  the  furnaces  in  Joliet, 
Illinois,  because  of  its  excellence  and  its  freedom  from  phosphorus  f  In 
this  question  of  phosphorus,  plain,  common  people  like  yourself  and  me, 


FROM  A  UNITED  STATES  FOIST  OF  VIEW. 


25 


Tiad  better  be  informed,  because  iron  of  tbe  United  States  is  possessed  of 
that  element  to  such  an  extent,  while  the  iron  of  Canada  is  free  from  it,  that 
the  union  of  the  two  is  of  the  greatest  possible  consequence.  It  has  been  said 
that  phosphorus  is  to  iron  what  the  devil  is  to  religion.  Canadian  ores  are 
•especially  low  in  phosphorus,  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  trade  barriers  they 
would  till  a  much  larger  place  in  the  supply  to  the  United  States.  The 
contributions  which  we  are  now  receiving  from  Spain,  Africa,  and  Cuba 
would  be  derived  from  Canada.  No  development  whatever  in  the  United 
States  will  stop  the  importations  of  iron.  These  importations  are  brought 
in  solely  because  of  the  peculiarity  of  the  ore  and  its  freedom  from  phos- 
phorous. The  Canadian  ores  possess  this  freedom.  The  lack  of  develop- 
ment renders  them  unavailable,  and  we  are  sending  out  money  to  Spain 
and  Africa  where  we  have  no  trade  at  all,  while  if  we  had  the  development 
within  a  few  miles  of  us,  in  Canada,  we  could  have  all  the  trade.  We  buy 
•our  sugar  from  the  Spanish  provinces,  and  our  iron,  but  what  do  they  take 
from  us?  It  is  a  revelation  of  a  strange  condition  that  not  a  dollar's 
worth  of  free  flour  can  go  to  Spain,  while  we  are  taking  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  ore  from  her,  she  having  hypothecated  the  revenue  derived  from 
flour  for  the  security  of  her  bonds.  The  consumption  of  iron  in  this 
•country  is  greater  than  the  consmnption  of  any  other  product,  being  about 
210  pounds  per  capita  per  annum.  There  is  not  a  little  baby  that  toddles 
up  to  its  mother  that  does  not  carry  on  its  back  a  burden  of  210  pounds 
of  iron  in  the  statistical  average  of  consumption.  The  growth  in  the 
use  of  iron  is  greater  than  that  of  any  other  article,  while  its  future 
increase  is  beyond  estimate.  The  disappearance  of  wood,  the  ingenuity  of 
man.  and  The  adaptability  of  the  material,  makes  it  possible  tbat  iron  will 
enter,  to  a  greater  degree  than  can  be  estimated,  into  tbe  industrial  arts 
and  refinements  of  life.  The  day  is  near  at  hand  when  your  wooden 
ships  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  only  iron  ships  will  be  known  on 
your  lakes.  Already  it  is  considered  that  railroad  bridges  made  of  iron  are 
alone  safe.  The  day  is  fast  coming  when  woodeu  sleepers  will  disappear 
from  your  railways,  and  be  superseded  by  iron  ties.  You  can  imagine  what 
the  consumption  will  be  wheu  you  consider  that  there  are  140,000  miles 
already  laid  in  the  United  States,  and  every  mile  contains  2,650  cross  ties. 
The  day  is  not  far  distant  when  cars,  as  well  as  locomotives,  will  be  made 
of  iron,  and  not  only  locomotives  and  cars  but  telegraph  poles.  Let  me 
-draw  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  to-day  a  greater  quantity  of  iron  is 
being  used  in  the  matter  of  fencing  than  could  have  been  dreamed  of  years 
ago.  Not  only  is  the  wire  fence  now  so  common  all  over  the  West  a  reve- 
lation of  the  use  to  which  iron  may  be  put,  but  the  posts  on  which  the  fence 
rests  are  also  of  this  material.  Who  would  have  predicted  with  any  degree 
of  credence  fifty  years  ago  that  hundreds  of  miles  of  fence  and  posts 
were  now  composed  purely  of  iron,  and  every  day  displacing  wood  right  in 
the  very  forests,  because  of  its  economy  and  durability.  Now,  under  such 
circumstances,  will  it  not  be  an  immense  boon  to  this  country  to  have 
opened  up  to  it  sources  of  supply  almost  beyond  human  belief?  Do  you 
realize  the  fact  that  within  six  hours  of  the  city  of  Rochester  there  lie 


26 


COMMERCIAL  UXION  WITH  CAXADA 


buried  treasures  in  iron  so  great  as  to  exceed  tlie  treasures  on  lake  Superior  ? 
Do  you  realize  the  fact  that  American  capital  and  American  enterprise  have 
already  by  the  Central  Ontario  Railway  permeated  this  region,  up  the- 
Valley  of  the  Trent,  and  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  this  road  runs  through 
an  almost  continuous  iron  belt  ?  That  already  ore  is  being  mined  from 
these  regions,  brought  to  the  lake  ports,  and  is  entering  into  their  daily 
commerce,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  has  to  bear  a  tax  of  75  cents  a 
ton  ?  The  percentage  of  metallic  iron  in  all  these  Canadian  ores  is  just  as 
great  as  that  of  the  rich  Gogebic  regions,  the  development  of  which  has- 
added  so  much  to  the  wealth  of  this  country,  and  which  are  already 
capitalized  for  more  than  $70,000,000,  though  they  were  practically 
unknown  two  years  ago.  Let  me  give  you  but  one  example  ?  At  New 
Glasgow,  in  Nova  Scotia,  within  a  radius  of  six  miles,  there  is  found 
hundreds  of  tons  of  iron  ore  of  the  best  quality,  equal  to  that  of  any  other 
portion  of  the  world,  side  by  side  with  limestone  chemically  pure,  coke  in 
abundant  quantities  from  seams  thirty  feet  thick,  all  directly  on  the  Inter- 
colonial Railway,  and  within  six  miles  of  the  Atlantic  ocean.  This  ore, 
manufactured  at  that  point,  could  be  brought  to  Boston  for  a  dollar  and  a 
half  a  ton,  which  to  bring  from  the  Gogebic  regions,  where  there  is  no  coal, 
would  cost  five  dollars  a  ton.  In  the  South,  about  the  development  of  which 
we  have  heard  so  much,  it  is  true  there  are  inexhaustible  quantities  of  iron 
ore,  side  by  side  with  coal  and  limestone,  but  this  great  misfortune  occurs, 
that  these  ores  are  not  steel  ores,  and  are  high  in  phosphorus,  which  maybe 
represented  as  the  devil,  while  in  this  region  of  Canada  the  devil  is  absent. 
If  the  iron  mines  of  Canada  were  held  to-day  at  a  figure  Avhich  would  pre- 
vent Americans  from  acquiring  them  there  might  be  some  cause  to  say  that 
commercial  union  would  not  benefit  Americans,  but  there  is  hardly  a  stretch 
of  iron  ore  in  Canada  to-day,  the  fee  simple  of  which  could  not  be  had  for  a 
mere  song,  and  not  any  but  could  be  had  at  a  nominal  price  of  a  royalty 
which  would  not  be  felt  in  the  amount  of  money  to  be  made  from  their 
development  should  an  open  market  be  permitted  with  the  United  States. 
The  truth  is  that  in  the  upper  continent  of  North  America  there  is  no  region 
where  the  iron  development  is  of  such  transcending  importance  to  the 
United  States  as  the  development  witniu  Canada,  because  of  its  accessibility, 
its  abundance,  its  freedom  from  phosphorus,  and  the  cheapness  at  which  it 
can  be  acquired  by  Americans  themselves.  The  Ontario  government  have 
this  year  sold  150,000  acres  of  land  for  $2  an  acre,  covering  an  iron  belt 
seventy  five  miles  across. 

VAST  WEALTH  IN  COPPER  AND  NICKEL. 

In  regard  to  copper,  the  great  success  which  has  been  achieved  by  the 
great  representative  copper  company  of  the  world,  known  as  the  Calumet- 
Hecla,  has  been  based  on  the  fact  that  5  per  cent,  of  the  ore  was  pure 
copper,  whereas  in  the  Canadian  copper  development  it  is  found  that  the 
percentage  of  copper  runs  all  the  way  from  6  to  as  high  as  30  per  cent. 
The  use  of  copper  has  increased  next  only  in  extent  to  iron,  and  its  cheap- 
ness of  recent  years  has  developed  uses  for  it  that  were  never  dreamed  of* 


FROM  A  UNITED  STATES  POINT  OF  VIEW. 


27 


For  rooting  cars  and  other  such  uses  it  is  likely  to  be  introduced  very  exten- 
sively. The  Canadian  copper  deposits  are  almost  beyond  human  belief, 
there  being  ridges  miles  long  at  the  Sugbury  Junction  mine  on  the  Canada 
Pacific  Railway,  reachable  within  the  next  ninety  days  from  the  American 
border  at  Sault  St.  Marie,  rendering  available  such  riches  as  to  be  almost 
beyond  human  belief.  The  present  duty  on  copper  is  34-  cents  a  pound,  which 
has  been  practically  prohibitory  of  the  importation  of  raw  copper  from 
these  regions.  It  is  utterly  unnecessary  and  unjustifiable,  for  we  are  the 
largest  exporters  of  copper  in  the  world.  It  is  a  fact  that  you  can  get 
on  a  horse  and  ride  through  continuous  ridges  containing  more  copper 
above  ground  than  is  to  be  seen  on  any  iron  deposit  in  the  world.  The 
famous  mine  of  Calumet  and  Heclahas  a  vein  twelve  feet  thick.  There  is 
one  within  four  hours  of  the  lake  a  thousand  feet  thick.  Judge  of  the 
comparison  ?  Agassiz,  the  father  of  the  man  who  is  president  of  the 
Calumet-Hecla  Company  said  that  ''  comparison  is  at  the  bottom  of  all 
philosophy."  The  comparison  in  this  case  indicates  the  philosophy  that 
we  can  make  the  United  States  rich  by  having  free  access  to  the  copper  of 
Canada.  Within  the  next  ninety  days  you  can  take  a  Pullman  car  at 
Detroit,  and  in  a  very  few  hours  you  can  step  directly  from  the  car  to  the 
mines,  as  near  as  you  dare  go  with  safety  when  they  are  blasting.  Within 
the  past  ten  days  one  of  the  most  illustrious  citizens  of  this  country,  Sena- 
Tor  Sherman,  has  Avith  his  own  eyes  beheld  this  enormous  deposit,  and  has 
seen  its  accessibility,  its  riches  and  availability  for  American  capital  and 
American  enterprise. 

In  the  matter  of  Dickel  the  deposits  of  Canada  challenge  attention.  The 
results  of  one  deposit  in  the  United  States  in  Pennsylvania,  were  two  per 
cent  of  nickel  which  has  supplied  the  whole  United  States.  There  is  in 
Canada  millions  and  millions  of  tons  of  nickel  ore,  which  contain,  according 
to  a  recent  analysis,  six  to  ten  per  cent,  of  pure  nickel.  Of  course  you  know 
its  commonest  use  is  in  the  nickel  five  cent  piece,  but  it  is  used  in  all  the 
fine  grades  of  manufactures.  It  is  a  metal  that  is  stronger  than  steel,  not 
only  very  hard,  but  very  malleable  and  ductile.  Its  use  in  the  manufacture 
of  gnus  has  hitherto  been  impossible  because  of  its  high  price,  but  with  the 
development  of  the  mines  of  Canada  all  the  artillery  of  the  world,  can  be 
made  from  it.  One  of  the  best  illustrations  of  its  availability  is  the  fact 
that  just  before  the  death  of  the  great  Kmpp,  the  Gerinau  gun-maker,  ne- 
gotiations  were  pending  for  obtaining  supplies  from  the  Canadian  nickel 
mines  for  the  manufacture  of  his  celebrated  guns  for  European  warfare.  Is 
it  not  an  illustration  of  the  marvellous  riches  of  Canada  that  the  greatest 
gnu-maker  in  all  the  world  should  have  had  his  attention  turned  to  the 
metal  which  above  all  others  would  suit  his  purpose,  but  which  still  la  vs 
dormant  iu  the  wilds  of  Canada.  Is  it  not  an  illustration  of  the  stupid 
ignorance  of  our  own  people  that  almost  within  sight  of  their  shores  should 
be  lying  metal  of  rnch  intrinsic  value,  needing  only  industry  and  develop- 
ment, with  American  capitalists  and  the  American  miner,  to  make  it  available 
for  the  uses  of  the  world.  An  illustration  of  the  superiority  of  nickel  over 
copper,  or  any  other  metal,  is  found  in  the  experiment  w  hich  was  tried  on  a 


28 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


German  ship,  which  was  sheeted  on  one  side  with  nickel,  and  on  the  other 
side  with  copper.  She  went  on  a  two  years'  cruise  around  the  world,  and  on 
her  return  she  was  listed  down  with  barnacles  and  sea  shell  accumulations 
on  the  copper-sheeted  side  so  as  to  be  scarcely  navigable,  while  the  nickel 
side  was  as  bright  as  when  it  was  put  ou.  The  use  of  nickel  in  the 
sheeting  of  vessels  would  result  in  a  revolution  in  all  the  tropical 
waters,  where  one  of  the  chief  impediments  to  speed  is  the  accumula- 
tions which  copper  and  other  metal  gather  in,  but  which  in  the  case  of 
nickel  is  entirely  impossible.  In  the  manufacture  of  the  guns,  recently 
ordered  by  the  Navy  Department,  the  world  is  being  searched  by  the 
Bethlehem  people  for  material.  The  iron  must  be  of  such  a  fine  quality, 
so  entirely  free  from  phosphorus,  that  out  of  a  whole  ton  if  there  were 
present  the  merest  trace  of  phosphorus,  equivalent  to  two  hundredths 
of  one  per  cent.,  the  metal  would  be  condemned.  In  the  case  of  nickel, 
however,  if  it  could  be  substituted  for  iron,  no  such  difficulty  would 
be  found,  and  it  could,  if  allowed  to  come  in  free  from  Canada,  be 
substituted  at  a  less  cost  than  iron  costs  to  day.  Then  there  would 
be  a  gun  that  would  not  be  equalled  on  earth.  The  value  of  nickel  may  be 
estimated  by  the  fact  that  within  ten  years  its  purchaseable  price  was  $1.50 
to  $2  a  pound.  If  it  could  be  admitted  free  and  the  needed  development 
take  place  on  an  extensive  scale,  it  could  be  introduced  into  common  use 
at  30  cents  a  pound.  Is  there  in  the  whole  range  of  economic  exj>erience  a 
circumstance  so  full  of  significance  as  this  one  fact,  that  within  sight  of 
Michigan  lies  millions  of  tons  of  this  product,  which  only  needs  to  have  a 
market  to  be  brought  into  common  use,  for  the  great  benefit  of  mankind 
and  the  good  of  every  one  who  is  concerned  in  the  creation  of  trade  that 
would  be  developed  with  the  development  of  the  mines.  The  world's 
supply  of  nickel  to-day  lies  between  the  Island  of  New  Caledonia,  a  French 
penal  colony,  150  miles  east  of  Australia,  and  the  mines  in  Canada,  with  an 
exhausted  deposit  in  Pennsylvania  which  now  does  not  exceed  two  per 
cent,  of  ore;  the  one  source  of  supply  ou  the  Canada  Pacific  Railway 
within  a  few  miles  of  Detroit,  and  the  other  just  half-way  around  the 
globe. 

OTHER  MINERALS. 

But  it  is  not  alone  in  iron,  copper,  and  nickel,  that  Canada  possesses  great 
natural  wealth.  In  gold  and  silver  her  productions  have  already  been 
extensive.  In  Nova  Scotia  $8,000,000  has  been  taken  out  of  the  ground, 
by  a  very  imperfect  system  of  mining,  in  fifteen  years;  and  in  British 
Columbia  immense  quantities  are  believed  to  exist,  from  the  fact  that  gold 
to  the  value  of  $50,000,000  has  been  mined  from  only  a  dozen  localities,  yet 
hardly  fully  developed.  With  regard  to  silver,  you  will  all  remember  the 
remarkable  story  of  Silver  Islet,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  which  yielded 
such  immense  returns.  Throughout  the  Port  Arthur  district,  and  in  the 
Beaver  and  Rabbit  mountains,  silver  is  now  being  mined  with  good  success, 
and  there  are  many  indications  of  its  existence  in  numerous  localities  in 
Canada. 


FBOM  A  V XI TED  STATES  POIXT  OF  VIEW. 


29 


Of  phosphates,  however,  Canada  possesses  an  enormous  quantity, 
and  of  the  purest  character.  No  country  in  the  world  needs  fertilizers 
more  than  large  portions  of  the  United  States.  The  manufacture  of  this 
article  is  one  of  the  most  important  industries,  and  its  output  simply 
enormous.  In  Canada  there  is,  in  counties  of  the  Ottawa,  almost  inex- 
haustible supplies  of  the  highest  grade  of  natural  fertilizers.  Analysis 
shows  that  Canadian  phosphates  possess  phosphoric  acid  up  to  37  and  39 
per  cent.,  or  equivalent  to  80  or  86  per  cent,  of  phosphate  of  lime.  No  con- 
tribution to  the  wealth  of  the  continent  is  of  greater  value  than  the  de- 
velopment of  this  important  industry,  and  already  American  enterprise  and 
American  capital  are  seeking  investment  in  this  direction. 

In  asbestos,  also,  Canada  possesses  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  minerals. 
It  is  common  in  Canada,  and  only  elsewhere  in  tbe  world  in  Italy.  There 
is  some  in  California,  but  it  costs  too  much  to  market.  It  is  a  fibrous 
material,  known  for  its  power  to  resist  fire  aud  acids,  and  presents  tbe 
widest  field  for  inventive  genius  to  open  up  new  processes  for  building- 
purposes,  fabrics,  and  for  use  in  steam  boilers,  pipes,  paints,  fire-proof 
cement,  and  other  uses. 

Salt,  antimony,  building  stones,  arsenic,  perites,  oxides  of  iron,  marble, 
lithographic  stones,  graphites,  plumbago,  gypsum,  soapstone,  white  quartz 
for  potters'  use,  silicious  sand-stones  for  glass  making,  emery,  and  numer- 
ous other  great  products  lay  dormant,  awaiting  the  touch  of  man.  In  the 
matter  of  lead,  it  is  found  in  almost  every  province,  aud  especially  in 
British  Columbia,  where  the  opening  up  of  Kootenay  county  shows  enor- 
mous deposits  of  lead  and  silver  ores,  the  lead  ore  showing  as  much  as  15| 
ounces  of  silver  to  the  ton. 

Mica  is  one  of  the  characteristic  minerals  of  the  Laurentian  range  that 
dominates  Canada.  In  these  ranges  are  found  the  white,  brown  and  black 
varieties,  and  in  the  Ottawa  valley  are  huge  storehouses  of  mica,  Avhichhas 
a  promise  of  a  great  future,  its  usefulness  of  late  years  having  been  greatly 
extended  in  the  manufacture  of  wall-paper,  the  embellishment  of  cars,  as 
a  lubricator  for  machinery,  and  is  especially  valuable  as  an  anti-friction 
product.  It  is  unwise  to  burden  you  longer  with  a  detail  of  Canadian  riches 
in  the  minor  minerals  ;  enough  will  be  said  if  you  can  be  convinced  that  of 
all  countries  in  the  world  Canada  not  only  possesses  greater  riches,  but  a 
greater  variety  than  any  other  country. 

Allusion  was  made  a  little  while  ago  to  the  wheat-producing  power  of  the 
Northwest,  but  attention  should  be  drawn  to  the  enormous  mineral  re- 
sources of  Manitoba  and  the  Northwestern  Territories.  The  whole  country, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Red  River  Valley,  the  great  wheat  belt,  is  rich  in 
mineral  deposits  :  gold  is  found  in  Lake  of  the  Woods  in  quartz  and  nuggets, 
in  the  Saskatchewan  Valley  in  dust,  where  even  now  men  with  shovel  and 
bucket  can  make  an  average  often  dollars  a  day.  The  iron  deposits  of  the 
Britannic  Range,  on  Big  Island  and  Lake  Winnipeg  are  of  immense  value, 
and  having  been  recently  treated  by  two  of  the  smelting  works  in  Chicago, 
their  reports  are  extremely  favorable,  especially  in  helping  the  Lake 
Superior  ores. 


30 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


In  the  matter  of  coal,  both  in  the  Territories  and  throughout  Canada,  the 
deposit  is  something  remarkable.  Throughout  the  Northwest  there  is  hardly 
any  place  more  than  one  hundred  miles  from  a  coal  bed.  The  whole  coal 
area  of  Canada  is  very  extensive,  an  approximate  estimate  placing  it  at  no 
less  than  97,000  square  miles.  The  magnitude  of  the  interests  involved  in 
this  question  of  supply  of  coal,  its  contiguity  and  economy  of  handling,  are 
of  enormous  importance  to  the  United  States,  and  it  is  a  significant  testi- 
mony to  the  important  position  which  Canada  holds  on  that  question,  when 
it  is  recalled  that  away  down  on  the  Atlantic  the  manufacturing  coal  of 
Nova  Scotia  should  without  doubt  supply  the  manufacturing  centres  of 
Xew  England,  at  a  minimum  of  cost,  while  away  out  on  the  Pacific,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  great  anthracite  supplies  of  British  Columbia  are  an  absolute 
necessity  for  San  Francisco  and  contiguous  cities,  and  which  they  are  now 
absorbing  at  the  rate  of  300,000  tons  a  year.  Is  it  not  an  illustration  of  the 
advisability  of  obliterating  all  the  dividing  lines  between  the  two  countries, 
when  at  points  so  distant,  and  points  so  numerous,  their  interests  touch 
each  other  and  intermingle  to  such  a  degree  that  intimacy  and  connection, 
one  with  the  other,  seam  an  absolute  necessity  for  each  other's  proper 
advance  in  civilization. 

THE  TIMBER  SUPPLY. 

Perhaps  of  all  articles  which  Canada  can  best  supply  to  the  United 
States  there  is  none  of  greater  moment  to  it  than  that  of  timber  and 
lumber.  When  one  recalls  the  vast  areas  covered  in  the  North  American 
continent  with  the  finest  forests  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  wide  stretches 
the  treeless  prairies  in  the  United  States  on  the  other,  it  is  clear  that  the 
Divinity  that  shaped  this  state  of  affairs  never  intended  that  a  high 
barrier  should  divide  the  supply  from  the  demand.  The  riches  of  Canada 
in  her  timber  resources  were  not  more  abundant  than  the  needs  of  the 
United  States  for  these  supplies,  and  the  policy  of  government  which 
would  exact  a  rate  of  duty  on  the  production  or  importation  of  such  a 
prime  necessity  as  lumber  is  an  egregious  mistake.  In  the  first  place,  the 
duty  which  has  been  collected  on  Canadian  lumber  is  an  utterly  unneces- 
sary and  unjustifiable  charge — unnecessary  because  the  government  is 
already  embarrassed  with  its  surplus  of  revenue,  and  unjustifiable  because 
the  protection  afforded  to  the  manufacture  of  lumber  in  the  United  States 
has  an  absolutely  opposite  effect  to  that  which  protection  affords  in  manu- 
factures, because,  the  more  the  production  is  stimulated,  the  more  certain 
is  the  destruction.  In  other  words,  protection  to  lumber  means  destruc- 
tion. The  forests  which  in  Michigan  and  in  other  States  were  once  a 
pride  and  a  source  of  wealth  cannot  be  replaced.  It  is  true  that  some 
individual  interests  may  temporarily  be'  advanced  by  a  tariff  on 
Canadian  lumber,  but  the  whole  body  of  consumers  are  made  to  suffer. 
There  is  nothing  which  in  the  great  aggregation  of  humanity  in  the 
cities  of  America  is  so  greatly,  needed  as  cheap  homes.  The  labor  problem, 
the  commune,  the  socialistic  element,  all  are  more  or  less  concerned 
in  the  question  of  cheap  homes,  for  once  a  man  has  a  little  home  of  his 


FROM  A  V SITED  STATES  P01XT  OF  VIEW. 


31 


•own,  and  can  see  his  "way  to  preserve  it,  and  keep  it  for  his  children, 
he  ceases  to  be  an  agitator,  and  becomes  a  citizen  with  whom  it  is  safe  to 
entrust  the  privileges  of  a  vote.  Iu  New  York  and  many  of  the  great 
cities,  the  advance  iu  building  material  and  the  cost  of  land  is  a  serious 
drawback  to  marriage  and  raising  a  family,  and  the  fulfilment  of  the 
highest  duties  of  a  citizen.  To  exact  a  twenty  per  cent,  duty  upon  mate- 
rials for  homes  is,  therefore,  the  most  unwise  policy  that  it  is  possible  to 
indulge  in.  Commercial  union  would  open  up  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  an  enormous  area  of  timber  and  lumber  in  Canada,  which  would 
afford  such  supplies  of  every  variety  as  nowhere  else  is  available.  The  area 
of  timber  land  in  Canada  is  something  enormous.  Excepting  the  great 
triangular  prairie  east  of  the  Eocky  Mountains,  lying  between  the  United 
States  boundary  line  and  a  line  drawn  from  tbe  Eed  Piver  to  the  Upper 
Peace  River,  the  whole  of  Canada  up  to  the  northern  limit  of  the  growth  of 
trees  presents  one  vast  forest  area  except  where  it  has  been  cleared  by  the 
hand  of  man.  According  to  my  friend,  A.  T.  Drummoxd,  within  this  area 
there  are  ninety-five  species  of  forest  trees,  including  nineteen  of  the  pine 
family.  It  is  true  that  the  hand  of  man  has  largely  denuded  the  valley  of 
the  Ottawa  and  the  province  of  Ontario  and  portions  of  Quebec  of  their 
riches  in  timber,  but  there  are  still  vast  supplies  at  the  head  waters  of  the 
Ottawa,  on  the  St.  Maurice,  and  towards  St.  James'  Bay,  and  more  espe- 
cially in  the  Provinces  of  British  Columbia.  The  timber  trade  of  this 
latter  region  will  in  the  near  future,  with  the  opening  up  of  the  country 
by  railways  and  an  increased  utilization  of  navigable  rivers,  rise  to  pro- 
portions of  immense  importance,  while  throughout  j>ortions  of  even  Ontario 
and  Quebec  there  are  still  enormous  supplies  of  the  beautiful  birdseye 
maple,  black  birch,  oak,  basswood,  black  ash,  and  other  useful  and  highly 
ornamental  woods  which  this  country,  in  its  progress  towards  the  highest 
grades  of  furniture  greatly  needs.  Of  late  years  the  use  of  natural  Avoods 
has  shown  the  improA'ed  taste  in  the  decoration  of  interiors,  and  there  is  no 
source  of  supply  for  this  continued  beautification  of  homes  so  accessible,  so 
varied,  and  so  comprehensive  as  that  of  Canada. 

THE  WEALTH  OF  CANADA  IN  HER  FISHERIES. 

While  the  earth  has  its  riches  in  such  abundance  that  the  heart  of  man 
should  be  devoutly  grateful  to  the  Giver  of  all  Good  for  their  infinite  variety 
and  abundant  supply,  yet  the  sea  has  a  wealth  that  in  many  countries  is 
looked  upon  as  quite  as  great  as  that  of  the  earth.  Iu  North  America, 
however,  we  do  not  reap  the  harvest  that  the  sea  yields  to  the  extent  of 
the  privileges  afforded.  It  is  along  the  borders  of  the  great  lakes,  and 
-along  the  shores  of  the  great  seas,  that  the  sustentation  of  human  life  is 
contributed  to  as  it  might  be  by  the  exercise  of  man's  industry  in  gathering 
in  the  wealth  that  Providence  has  provided  in  the  water.  There  are  thou- 
sands of  people  in  the  interior  who  from  year  to  year  rarely  know  what  it 
is  to  taste  fish,  and  there  is  no  great  industry  susceptible  of  larger  develop- 
ment, or  more  greatly  contributing  to  the  reduction  of  the  cost  of  living, 
or  adding  variety  and  thus  health  to  the  food  of  the  country,  than  that  of 


32 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


the  fisheries.  While  this  is  so  with  regard  to  the  general  question  of  fish- 
eries, the  place  that  Canada  occupies  in  this  department  of  the  supply  of 
human  food  is  very  significant,  because  she  owns  the  largest  and  the  richest 
fisheries  in  the  world.  As  my  friend,  the  Hon.  Peter  Mitchell,  says,  "The 
great  variety  and  superior  quality  of  the  fish  products  of  the  sea  and  inland 
waters  of  Canada  afford  a  nutritious  and  economic  food,  admirably  adapted 
to  the  domestic  wants  of  a  mixed  and  laborious  population.  The  prolific 
nature  of  the  waters  adjacent  to  Canada,  and  the  convenience  of  their  un- 
disturbed use,  make  the  sea  and  inland  fisheries  on  this  continent  of  pecu- 
liar value."  Did  you  ever  realize  the  vast  stretches  of  coast  line  of  which 
Canada  controls  the  fisheries  ?  Bounded  as  the  Dominion  is  by  three 
oceans  it  has  besides  its  numerous  inland  seas  over  5,500  miles  of  sea  coast, 
washed  by  waters  abounding  in  the  most  valuable  fishes  of  all  kinds.  The 
older  provinces  of  the  Confederation  have  2,500  miles  of  sea  coast  and  in- 
land seas,  while  the  sea  coast  of  British  Columbia  alone  is  over  3,000  miles 
in  extent.  The  teeming  waters  of  these  possessions  must  be  reckoned  as 
national  property,  richer  and  more  perpetual  than  any  mere  estimate  in 
money  can  express.  But  not  only  in  the  matter  of  extent  of  sea  coast  line 
and  territory  has  Canada  larger  fisheries  than  all  other  countries  in  the 
world,  but  in  the  extreme  northern  location  which  she  occupies  she 
posssesses  an  advantage  which  is  of  immense  value.  This  advantage  is 
that  the  fish  are  better  in  the  northern  climates  than  in  the  southern  cli- 
mates, and  not  only  are  the  fish  better  and  more  solid  in  the  northern 
climates,  but  the  supply  of  fish  food  is,  owing  to  the  extreme  northern 
location,  something  enormous.  Mr.  Harvey,  in  his  history  of  Newfound- 
land, says  "that  the  arctic  currents  which  wash  the  coast  of  Labrador, 
Newfoundland  and  Canada,  chilling  the  atmosphere,  and  bearing  on  its 
bosom  hugh  ice  argosies,  is  the  source  of  the  vast  fish  wealth  which  has 
been  drawn  on  for  ages,  and  which  promises  to  continue  for  ages  to  come. 
Wanting  this  cold  river  in  the  ocean  the  cod,  seals,  herring,  mackerel, 
halibut  and  numerous  other  fish  which  now  crowd  the  northern  seas  would 
be  entirely  absent.  The  great  fishing  interests  are  just  as  dependent  upon 
this  arctic  current  as  are  the  farming  interests  on  the  rain  and  sunshine 
which  ripen  the  crop."  Professor  Hind  says,  "the  arctic  seas,  and  the  great 
rivers  which  they  send  forth,  swarm  with  minute  forms  of  life,  consti- 
tuting in  many  places  a  living  mass, — a  vast  ocean  of  living  slime.  The 
all-pervading  life  which  exists  there  affords  the  true  solution  of  the  problem 
which  has  so  often  presented  itself  to  those  investigating  deep  sea  fisheries, 
viz  ;  the  source  of  food  which  gives  sustenance  to  the  countless  millions  of 
fish  that  swarm  upon  the  coasts  of  the  Dominion."  Another  writer,  Dr. 
Brown,  has  shown  that  the  presence  of  this  slime,  spread  over  100,000  square 
miles,  "provides  food  for  millions  of  birds  that  frequent  the  arctic  seas  in 
the  summer,  and  furnishes  sustenance  to  the  largest  marine  animals  the 
year  round."  Another  writer,  Mr.  Sheriff"  Joncas,  of  Gaspe,  the  clever  con- 
tributor to  the  literature  of  the  British  Association,  says :  "By  far  the  largest 
area  of  this  cold  water  subtends  the  coasts  of  the  British  American  Provinces 
within  the  100  fathom  line  of  soundings.    It  is  computed  that  while  the- 


FROM  A  UN  I  TED  STATES  FOIST  OF  VIEW. 


33 


cold  water  subtending  the  United  States  is  about  45,000  square  miles,  that 
which  subtends  the  British  American  shores  is  over  200,000  square  miles." 
You  will  see  from  this  comparison  the  superior  value  of  the  fisheries  of  Bri- 
tish North  America.  The  harvest  of  the  sea  has  not  yet  been  gleaned  to  the 
same  extent  as  the  harvest  of  the  land.  As  Sheriff  Joxcas  further  says, 
u  the  fact  of  foreign  nations  having  always  clung  with  tenacity  to  every 
right  of  common  liberty  which  they  have  been  enabled  to  secure  iu  these 
fisheries,  and  the  eagerness  which  foreigners  manifest  to  establish  them- 
selves in  the  absolute  use  of  such  extensive  and  lucrative  piivileges 
constitute  the  best  extrinsic  evidence  of  the  wide-spreading  influence  of 
their  possession,  and  the  strongest  testimony  to  their  industrial  and  com- 
mercial worth."  The  trouble  which  has  arisen  in  the  St.  Lawreuce  between 
the  United  States  and  Canada,  in  regard  to  the  fishery  question,  iudicates  the 
enormous  importance  of  this  interest,  and  if  by  commercial  union  between 
the  two  countries  all  cause  for  friction  should  be  removed,  and  all  this  vast 
area  opened  up  to  American  industry  and  American  enterprise,  resulting  in 
an  enormous  in< .Tease  in  the  production  of  fish,  and  its  cheapened  price  to 
the  vast  mass  of  consumers,  is  any  other  argument  needed  to  make  it  clear 
that  this  commercial  union  would  be  au  advantage  ?  The  effect  of  the 
obliteration  of  the  dividing  line  between  the  two  countries  iu  the  rnatrer  of 
fish  would  be  more  comprehensive,  more  beneficial,  to  all  classes  of  the 
community,  than  almost  any  other  act  that  could  be  imagined,  removing  at 
once  aud  forever  the  dangerous  element  of  difference,  which  like  the  Ghost 
of  Banquo,  arises  periodically  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  nations;  enlarging 
such  an  area  of  industry  for  the  employment  of  those  who  would  seek  it  in 
this  direction,  and  resulting  in  a  cheapened  food  product  of  the  greatest 
possible  value  to  the  community  at  large.  What  larger  or  better  achieve- 
ment can  be  imagined  than  by  appropriate  legislation  between  tbe  two 
countries  to  make  this,  as  all  other  articles,  free  from  all  entangling 
conditions, — free  as  the  air  and  the  water  for  the  good  of  the  people  on 
both  sides  of  the  border. 

AGRICULTURAL  POSSIBILITIES. 

Aside  from  the  enormous  Avheat-growing  possibilities  of  the  great  North- 
west, as  illustrated  in  the  progress  of  such  States  as  Minuesota  and  Dakota, 
there  are  in  the  other  proviuces  possibilities  of  very  great  contributions  to 
the  United  States  iu  the  shape  of  agricultural  products.  Of  course,  in  a 
certain  sense,  these  products  compete  with  those  of  the  farmers  of  the 
Uni'ed  States,  but  inasmuch  as  they  are  now  coming  in  to  this  country  to  a 
very  large  extent,  it  is  not  believed  that  the  removal  of  tbe  duty  would 
materially  lessen  the  piice.  The  productions  of  Canada  are  so  i>  significant, 
as  compared  with  the  total  products  of  the  United  States,  that  for  many 
years  they  would  not  enter  into  competition  to  any  serious  extent  with 
American  products.  There  is  a  peculiarity  also  about  many  of  the  Canadian 
articles  that  prevents  them  from  materially  entering  into  competition  here. 
Thus,  iu  the  matter  of  wool,  Ontario  is  the  natural  habitation  on  this  con- 
tinent for  combing  wool  sheep,  and  without  a  full,  cheap,  and  reliable  supply 
3  * 


34 


COMMERCIAL  UNION  WITH  CANADA 


of  the  wool  of  this  species  the  worsted  manufactories  of  the  country 
■cannot  prosper.  Ontario  is  the  land  where  grows  the  finest  barley,  which 
the  brewing  interest  of  the  United  States  must  have  if  it  ever  expects  to 
rival  Great  Britain  in  its  present  annual  export  of  sll, 000,000  worth  of  malt 
products.  Ontario  raises  and  grazes  the  finest  cattle,  with  qualities  espe- 
cially desirable  to  make  good  the  deterioration  of  stock  in  other  sections. 
In  horses,  which  are  needed  greatly  for  draft  purposes  in  the  United 
States  ;  in  poultry  and  eggs ;  in  fruits,  butter  and  cheese,  she  possesses 
powers  of  production  quite  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  most  perfect 
agricultural  sections  of  the  United  States.  These  being  in  close  conti- 
guity to  many  manufacturing  centres,  afford  to  the  greatest  number  of 
people  the  greatest  possible  advantage,  and  if  it  is  a  fact  that  the  price 
may  not  be  materially  lessened  by  their  free  introduction,  as  they  now 
largely  come  in  even  against  the  duty,  there  is  no  controlling  obstacle  to  the 
abolition  of  the  customs  line  in  regard  to  these  products.  Looking  at  the 
map  of  North  America,  one  who  is  unacquainted  with  the  barriers  which 
Governments  have  erected  would  naturally  suppose  that  the  fertile  valleys 
of  Nova  Scotia,  and  especially  of  Annapolis,  whould  be  the  natural  sources 
of  supply  of  many  of  the  smaller  products,  that  the  great  manufacturing 
centres  in  New  England  would  draw  largely  from.  In  apples,  berries,  gar- 
den truck  and  the  smaller  grains,  this  fine  province  and  its  neighbor,  Prince 
Edward  Island,  could  with  the  greatest  possible  facility  furnish  portions 
of  New  Englaud  most  advantageously,  to  the  great  good  of  all  con- 
sumers. The  trade  could  not  exist  unless  the  demand  existed.  If  the  de- 
mand exists  it  ought  to  be  supplied  at  the  most  reasonable  rates,  and 
with  the  facility  that  contiguity,  cheap  means  of  communication, 
and  the  great  productive  power  of  the  locality  afford.  Going  West, 
New  Brunswick  is  not  an  agricultural  region,  but  there  are  many 
agricultural  products  in  it  that  would  benefit  the  United  States  ; 
while  from  portions  of  Quebec,  and  largely  from  Ontario,  supplies 
could  be  derived  of  agricultural  products  that  would  greatly  benefit 
not  only  the  producers,  but  the  consumers.  Speaking  of  Ontario,  an 
eminent  commercial  economist  of  this  country,  Hon.  David  A.  Wells,  says : 
u  Such  a  country  as  Ontario  is  one  of  the  greatest  gifts  of  Providence  to  the 
human  race,  better  than  bonanzas  of  silver,  or  rivers  whose  sands  contain 
gold.  At  present,  this  land  so  favored  by  nature  is  in  a  great  measure  un- 
occupied and  sparsely  populated,  because  there  is  little  market  for  the  pro- 
duct of  its  industry,  and  the  United  States  has  practically  said  there  shall 
be  none.  With  an  area  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  three  great  States  of  New 
York,  Pennsylvania  aud  Ohio,  which  now  have  a  population  o  f  12,000,000, 
the  present  population  of  Ontario  is  less  than  2,000,000.  During  the  period 
of  the  operation  of  the  reciprocity  treaty  the  ratio  of  increase  of  population 
was  at  the  rate  of  4.3d  per  cent,  per  annum,  or  in  a  ratio  greater  than  the 
United  States  at  any  period  of  its  history,  but  after  the  outbreak  of  our  civil 
war  and  the  repeal  of  reciprocity,  or  from  1&Q1  to  1871,  the  annual  ratio  of 
increase  ran  down  to  1.61,  or  to  a  ratio  less  than  that  of  the  United  States 
at  any  period  of  its  history.    Let  all  barriers  to  free  commercial  intercourse 


FROM  A  EXITED  STATES  TOIXT  OF  VIEW. 


35 


and  the  exchange  of  products  he  now  removed,  and  who  can  douht  that  in 
the  course  of  one  or  two  decades,  (and  what  are  tea  or  twenty  years  in  the 
life  of  a  nation  ?),  there  will  be  gathered  in  what  is  now  Ontario  the  material 
for  several  great  and  prospering  States — States  whose  population,  origina- 
ting mainly  in  the  United  States,  connected  with  them  by  ties  of  blood, 
kindred  and  similarity  of  thought  (which  free  intercourse  will  aunually 
strengthen  and  not  weaken),  will  be  American  rather  thau  provincial  ; 
States  whose  people,  under  the  representative  government  now  enjoyed  in 
Ontario,  will  largely  determine  the  policy  of  the  whole  Dominion." 

RELATIONS,  RESOURCES  AND  CAPABILITIES. 

An  admirable  photograph  of  the  natural  relations,  resources,  and  capa- 
bilities of  Canada,  as  connected  with  the  United  States,  is  presented  in  a 
report  to  the  government,  in  1871,  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Larned,  the  excellent 
superintendent  of  the  Public  Library  at  Buffalo,  from  which  the  following 
is  an  extract : 

"  Here,  then,  are  about  four  and  a  quarter  millions  of  people,  not  only 
living  in  the  utmost  nearness  of  neighborhood  to  us,  but  wiih  such  inter- 
jections of  territory,  and  such  an  interlacing  of  natural  communications 
and  connections  between  their  country  and  ours,  that  the  geographical 
unity  of  the  two  is  a  more  conspicuous  fact  than  their  political  separ  itioo. 
Their  numbers  exceed  by  more  than  half  a  million  the  people  of  the  six  New 
England  State*,  and  ahout  equal  the  number  in  the  great  State  of  New 
York.  In  the  magnitude  and  value  of  the  industrial  and  commercial  inter- 
changes that  are  carried  on  between  the  New  England  States  ami  the  other 
parts  of  this  Uniou,  we  may  find  no  unfair  measure  of  the  kindred  commerce 
that  would  have  existed,  under  natural  circumstances,  between  t  ose  people 
and  ourselves.  Such  equal  conditions,  indeed,  would  undoubtedly  have 
given  to  the  provinces  in  question  a  weight  in  i lie  commerce  of  the  North 
America  continent  considerably  exceeding  the  present  weight  of  the  New 
England  States.  The  average  capabilities  of  their  soil  and  climate  are  not 
inferior  to  the  capabilities  of  the  six  States  with  which  I  compare  them, 
while  their  general  resources  are  greater  and  more  var  ed.  Ontario  possesses 
a  fertility  with  which  no  part  of  New  England  can  at  all  compare,  and  that 
peninsular  section  of  it  around  which  the  circle  of  the  great  lak^s  is  swept, 
forces  itself  upon  the  notice  of  any  student  of  the  American  map  as  one  of 
the  favored  spots  of  the  whole  continent — as  one  of  the  appointed  hiving 
places  of  industry,  where  population  ought  to  breed  with  almost  Belgian 
fecundity.  A  large  sectiou  of  Quebec  is  at  least  equal,  iu  soil  and  climate, 
to  its  New  England  neighbors,  while  it  rivals  them  in  the  possession  of 
water  power,  which  is  furnished  by  every  stream,  and  while  it  commands 
easier  and  cheaper  access  to  the  markets  of  the  western  interior.  As  for  the 
Maritime  Provinces,  their  possessson  of  abundant  coal  gives  them  one  of 
the  prime  advantages  of  industry  over  the  contiguous  States.  Along  with 
this  parity,  to  say  the  least,  in  all  that  is  essential  to  a  vigorous  develop- 
ment, the  provinces  forming  the  Dominion — even  if  we  exclude  flint  vast 
seat  of  future  empire  in  the  basm  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  which  lies  waiting  for 
civilization  to  reach  it — ocenpy  a  territorial  area  within  which  the  popula- 
tion of  New  England  or  New  York  might  be  several  times  multiplied  without 
increase  of  density." 

These  expressions  and  numerous  others  that  could  be  quoted  go  to  show 
that  a  territory  of  most  iuvitiug  character  lies  awaiting  settlement  by 
Americans,  and  those  who  come  through  the  United  States,  who,  if  they  had 


36 


COMMERCIAL  rXIOX  WITH  C  AX  AD  A 


a  better  market  in  this  country  for  their  products,  would  fiud  opportunities 
for  a  fortune  aud  a  future  that  nowhere  else  on  the  continent  has  superior 
advantages.  If  the  trade  between  the  two  countries  could  be  without  let 
or  hindrance,  and  all  the  advantages  to  the  United  States  be  secured  by  as 
free  act  ess,  aud  as  free  interchange,  as  if  Canada  was  part  and  parcel  of 
the  Union,  why  should  not  these  advantages  be  secured  by  such  legislation 
as  would  obliterate  for  ever  the  dividing  line  that,  commercially,  now  exists 
between  them. 

Your  patience  and  your  kindness  have  been  taxed  by  the  great  length 
of  this  address,  in  which  I  have  endeavored  to  impress  you  with  the  position 
of  Canadp,  her  great  natural  advantages,  and  the  opportunities  which  these 
present  to  the  United  States.  There  are  many  details  which  it  is  iuij)or- 
tant  should  be  discussed,  and  there  are  many  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
so  great  a  consummation,  the  possibility  of  which  has  been  presented 
to  you.  But  these  details  and  these  difficulties  may  well  be  left  for 
future  discussion.  The  amount  of  revenue  which  the  United  States 
Treasury  collects  on  the  imports  from  Canada  is  less  than  five  and  a  half 
millions  of  dollars.  In  view  of  the  enormous  surplus  which  now  burdens 
the  general  government,  and  threatens  to  seriously  embarrass  the  com- 
mercial public,  the  stoppage  of  this  source  of  revenue  would  be  regarded 
as  a  positive  advantage  by  many,  and  would  cause  no  serious  disturbance 
in  existing  conditions  of  taxation.  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether 
in  the  whole  range  of  fiscal  votes  by  Congress,  past,  present,  or  future, 
more  could  be  accomplished  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States  than 
could  be  achieved  by  a  vote  which  should  forever  obliterate  the  collection 
of  this  five  and  a  half  millions  from  goods  impoited  from  Canada. 
Enough  has  already  been  said  to  make  this  clear.  But  in  Canada  a  con- 
dition precisely  opposite  exists,  and  here  difficulties  of  a  really  seiious 
nature  appear :  first,  because  the  revenue  interfered  with  by  free  admission 
of  American  go  ids  bears  a  much  larger  proportion  to  the  whole  amount 
collected;  and  second,  because  the  free  admission  of  American  goods  would 
certainly  serously  supplant  foreign  goods,  on  which  tbe  remainder  of  the 
customs  duties  are  levied.  By  some  mutual  arrangement,  however,  such  as 
pooling  the  customs  and  internal  revenue  receipts  by  both  countries,  and 
distributing  them  in  proportion  to  population,  the  difficulties  now  apparent 
may  be  surmounted.  The  question  would  need  to  be  approached,  espe- 
cially on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  with  liberality,  as  it  doubtless  would 
be.  Perhaps  the  most  serious  difficulty  to  be  apprehended  would  be 
the  regulation  of  the  tariff  on  imports,  and  fixing  the  scale  of 
internal  reveuue  taxation.  This  serious  question  is  oue  which  needs  the 
most  ample  discussion  and  the  fairest  consideration.  To  many  the  right  of 
the  United  States  Congress  to  regulate  the  tariff  for  the  whole  continent 
under  a  commercial  union  is  a  f  tregone  conclusion,  and  to  yield  this  point 
makes  the  achievement  of  such  a  union  much  more  practicable  and  possible, 
from  a  United  Stat  s  point  of  view.  To  Cauadiaus  the  proposition  to  part 
with  the  power  to  regulate  their  tariff  is  an  objection  which  it  is  difficult  to 
meet.    This  is  especially  so  in  view  of  the  necessities  of  revenue  arising  out 


FROM  A  EXITED  STATES  POIXT  OF  VIEW. 


37 


'of  the  growth  of  the  public  debt  of  the  Dominion  compared  with  the  steady 
reduction  in  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States.  The  United  States  tariff 
is  still,  however,  higher  than  that  of  Canada  by  an  average  perhaps  often 
per  cent.,  and  if  it  should  be  agreed  to  pool  receipts  from  both  countries,  and 
divide  in  proportion  to  population,  Canada  would  be  as  well  off  in  revenue  as 
she  now  is;  and  in  view  of  the  relatively  small  proportion  to  which  she 
-would  be  entitled  (comparing  5  millions  to  60  millions  of  people)  she  might 
well  afford  to  take  her  chances  as  to  the  future  effects  of  tariff  legislation 
with  such  States  as  Michigan,  Ohio,  New- York,  and  Vermont,  having  condi- 
tions in  climate,  product,  and  pursuit  of  such  similarity.  It  may  be  possible 
to  convince  Canadians  that  they  can  afford  to  take  such  a  chance,  in  view 
of  the  great  advantages  that  would  now  to  them  from  an  open  market 
among  sixty  millions  of  people,  and  the  possibilities  growing  out  of  the  de- 
velopment of  their  country,  and  it  may  be  that  some  mode  maybe  dis- 
covered whereby  the  difficulty  may  be  obviated.  Surely  the  resources  of 
civilization  in  the  management  of  affairs  will  afford  some  plan  by  which 
difficulties  of  this  nature  and  kindred  character  can  be  adjusted,  once  a 
union  between  the  two  countries  has  been  agreed  upon,  involving  mutual 
independence  and  mutual  intercharge  on  an  equitable  basis. 

A  thousand  years  ago,  Peter  the  Hermit  preached  the  Crusades,  and 
aroused  Europe  to  sacrifices  involving  millious  of  money  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  lives.  The  motive  that  inspired  these  costly  contributions 
was  the  supposed  influences  of  holy  shrines,  and  the  possible  hope  of  conquest. 
Since  that  day  great  wars  have  been  carried  forward  at  enormous  expendi- 
ture of  blood  and  treasure;  and  to  day  the  people  of  Europe,  even  in  time 
of  peace,  are  taxed  and  harassed  to  a  great  extent,  either  to  prevent  or  to 
achieve  conquest.  To  sum  up  all  that  has  ever  been  accomplished  by  these 
great  struggles,  and  their  continued  costliness,  amounts  to  less  in  good  to 
mankind  than  can  be  achieved  on  this  continent  by  a  single  act  of  legisla- 
tion— a  simple  act  that  will  unite  in  terms  of  perfect  amity  and  commercial 
freedom  two  great  regions  hitherto  divided  ;  two  great  people  hitherto 
estranged  for  want  of  a  common  interest.  Thus,  by  conquest  of  good- will, 
the  union  of  the  two  great  Anglo-Saxon  nations  of  Xorth  America  can  be 
achieved,  while  permitting  the  political  independence  of  each,  a  community 
of  interest  and  great  mutual  advantage  wil  illustrate  in  the  highest  form 
ever  yet  illustrated  the  sentiment  that  ''Peace  hath  her  victories  no  less 
renowned  than  war !  " 


